Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of plague, a rapidly fatal infectious disease that has not been eradicated worldwide. The capsular Caf1 protein of Y. pestis is a protective antigen under development as a recombinant vaccine. However, little is known about the specificity of human T-cell responses for Caf1. We characterized CD4 T-cell epitopes of Caf1 in "humanized" HLA-DR1 transgenic mic...

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are critical homeostatic components in preventing the development of autoimmunity, and are a major focus for their therapeutic potential for autoimmune diseases. To enhance the efficacy of Tregs in adoptive therapy, we developed a strategy for generating engineered Tregs that have the capacity to target autoimmune T cells in an Ag-specific manner. Using a retroviral e...

conclusions in conclusion, ctp-hbcag18-27-tapasin could reduce apoptosis of cd8+ t cells, increase the percentages of ifn-γ+ cd8α+ t cells, and elicit cell-mediated immunity in hla-a2 transgenic mice; these processes were associated with activation of the pi3k/akt signaling pathway. results the results showed that ctp-hbcag18-27-tapasin significantly increased the percentages of ifn-γ+ cd8α+ t ...

Professional antigen-presenting cells, such as dendritic cells, macrophages and B cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis, constituting a possible target for antigen-specific immunotherapy. We addressed the possibility of blocking antigen presentation of the type II collagen (CII)-derived immunodominant arthritogenic epitope CII259-273 to specific CD4 T cells by i...

Several studies have demonstrated that marrow stromal cells (MSCs) can suppress allogeneic T-cell responses. However, the effect of MSCs on syngeneic immune responses has been largely overlooked. We describe here that primary MSCs derived from C57BL/6micebehaveasconditionalantigenpresenting cells (APCs) and can induce antigen-specific protective immunity. Interferon gamma (IFN )–treated C57BL/6...

alzheimer’s disease (ad) is a uniquely human disorder. although the pathogenesis of ad is not fully understood, growing evidence indicates that the deposition of beta-amyloid (aβ) and the local reactions of various cell types to this protein play major roles in the development of the disease. in the present study transgenic mice expressing mutant amyloid precursor protein (app) has been used. t...

the main aim of this study was to obtain the crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever virus (cchfv) glycoprotein, through either stable transgenic plants or using a transient expression system, and determine the yield, quality and finally the immunogenicity of the plant-made cchfv glycoprotein in a mouse model. we designed and synthesized a codon-optimized g1/g2 gene from the g1 and g2 parts of the cchf...

Background: The linkage between periodontal disease and rheumatoid arthritis is well established. Commonalities among the two are that both are chronic inflammatory diseases characterized by bone loss, an association with the shared epitope susceptibility allele, and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies. Methods: To explore immune mechanisms that may connect the two seemingly disparate disorde...

Disperse Red 1 (DR1), which is widely used in the textile industry, is an azo dye that contributes to the toxicity and pollution of wastewater. To assess the toxic effects of DR1 on reproduction, sexually mature male mice (Mus musculus, strain CF-1) were orally (gavage) treated with single doses of the compound at 20, 100 and 500 mg/kg body weight. Testicular features and sperm parameters were ...