Glucocorticoids (GCs) repress lymphocyte function by controlling gene expression. In this study, we investigated Ag-specific effector T cells and provide evidence that GCs also modulate these cells' cytoskeletal architecture by nongenomic mechanisms. Following GC treatment, effector T cells rapidly lose their polarized morphology, which impedes both their migratory capacity and their interactio...

Acetylcholine excites many neuronal types by binding to postsynaptic m1-muscarinic receptors that signal to ion channels through the G(q/11) protein. To investigate the functional significance of this metabotropic pathway in sympathetic ganglia, we studied how muscarinic excitation modulated the integration of virtual nicotinic excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) created in dissociated b...

The forkhead DNA-binding protein FOXP3 is critical for the development and suppressive function of CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells (T(REG)), which play a key role in maintaining self-tolerance. Functionally, FOXP3 is capable of repressing transcription of cytokine genes regulated by NFAT. Various mechanisms have been proposed by which FOXP3 mediates these effects. Using novel cell lines that i...

Ewing sarcoma (EWS) is an aggressive bone tumor of uncertain cellular origin. CD99 is a membrane protein that is expressed in most cases of EWS, although its function in the disease is unknown. Here we have shown that endogenous CD99 expression modulates EWS tumor differentiation and malignancy. We determined that knocking down CD99 expression in human EWS cell lines reduced their ability to fo...

Insulin activates insulin receptors (InsRs) in the hypothalamus to signal satiety after a meal. However, the rising incidence of obesity, which results in chronically elevated insulin levels, implies that insulin may also act in brain centres that regulate motivation and reward. We report here that insulin can amplify action potential-dependent dopamine (DA) release in the nucleus accumbens (NA...

Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) regulate blood and lymph vessel development by activating 3 receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), VEGFR-1, -2, and -3, and by binding to coreceptors such as neuropilin-1 (NRP-1). We investigated how different VEGF-A isoforms, in particular VEGF-A(165)a and VEGF-A(165)b, control the balance between VEGFR-2 recycling, degradation, and signaling. Stimulation...

Biogenesis of mitochondrial β-barrel proteins requires two preprotein translocases, the general translocase of the outer membrane (TOM) and the sorting and assembly machinery (SAM). TOM and SAM form a supercomplex that promotes transfer of β-barrel precursors. The SAM core complex contains the channel protein Sam50, which cooperates with Sam35 in precursor recognition, and the peripheral membra...

The inositol pyrophosphate IP7 (5-diphosphoinositolpentakisphosphate), formed by a family of three inositol hexakisphosphate kinases (IP6Ks), modulates diverse cellular activities. We now report that IP7 is a physiologic inhibitor of Akt, a serine/threonine kinase that regulates glucose homeostasis and protein translation, respectively, via the GSK3β and mTOR pathways. Thus, Akt and mTOR signal...

This study describes the feasibility and adjuvant mechanism of a degradable emulsion for tuning adaptive immune responses to a vaccine antigen. We featured a mouse model with ovalbumin (OVA) as the antigen to deepen our understanding of the properties of a degradable emulsion-based adjuvant, dubbed PELC, interacting with immune cells and to elucidate their roles in vaccine immunogenicity in viv...