T cell receptor recognition of antigen can lead either to T lymphocyte differentiation and proliferation or to a state of unresponsiveness, which is dependent on whether appropriate costimulatory signals are provided to the mature T cell. We have investigated a novel intracellular signaling pathway provided by the costimulatory molecule CD28. CD28 engagement triggers the activation of an acidic...

Several neuronal guidance proteins, known as semaphorin molecules, function in the immune system. This dual tissue performance has led to them being defined as “neuroimmune semaphorins”. They have been shown to regulate T cell activation by serving as costimulatory molecules. Similar to classical costimulatory molecules, neuroimmune semaphorins are either constitutively or inducibly expressed o...

A successful antitumor T cell immune response involves induction, recruitment, and effector function of T cells. While B7/BB1 is known as a major costimulatory molecule in the induction of T cell responses, its role in T cell recruitment and effector function is still unclear. In this study, we show that introducing a major costimulatory molecule B7/BB1 into a major histocompatibility complex c...

BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis is based on a chronic inflammatory process including the innate and adaptive immune response. Costimulatory molecules and their receptors provide decisive signals for antigen-specific cell activation. The contribution of B7-related pathways to atherosclerosis has hardly been explored. METHODS In the present study, we investigated the contribution of B7-1 to inflamma...

TLR ligands induce dendritic cell (DC) maturation. During this process, cells initiate proteolytic degradation of internalized protein Ags into peptides that complex with MHC class II (MHC II) and simultaneously increase expression of costimulatory molecules and of cytokines such as IL-6, IL-12, and IL-23. In these ways, TLR-activated DCs are able to activate naive Th cells and initiate Th1 and...

background: dendritic cells (dc) are a key regulator of the immune response, and interferon- beta (ifn-β) is considered an immunomodulatory molecule for dc. objective: the purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of ifn-β treated dc to induce cytokine secretion by cd4+ t cells. methods: dendritic cells were generated from blood monocytes with granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating fac...

Morbidity and mortality in schistosomiasis are largely due to an immune response mediated by CD4 T lymphocytes. Since lymphocyte activation is shaped by costimulatory signals, the specific functions of different costimulatory pathways are of increasing interest. We now examined the role of the inducible costimulatory molecule (ICOS) and its ligand B7-related protein 1 (B7RP-1) in the experiment...