The adenovirus (Ad) early transcription unit 3 (E3) encodes multiple immunosubversive functions that are presumed to facilitate the establishment and persistence of infection. Indeed, the capacity of E3/19K to inhibit transport of HLA class I (HLA-I) to the cell surface, thereby preventing peptide presentation to CD8(+) T cells, has long been recognized as a paradigm for viral immune evasion. H...

MICA/B (the major histocompatibility antigen-related chain A and B) and Rae I are stress-inducible ligands for the immune-receptor NKG2D. Mechanisms by which genotoxic stress and DNA damage induce the expression of NKG2D ligands remain incompletely understood. Here, we report that inhibition of xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) activity by allopurinol or inhibition of XOR expression by gene knockdo...

OBJECTIVE The nonclassical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I chain-related molecules (MICs), encoded within the MHC, function in immunity. The transmembrane polymorphism in MICA (MICA-STR) has been reported to be associated with type 1 diabetes. In this study, we directly sequenced both of the highly polymorphic MIC genes (MICA and MICB) in order to establish whether they are assoc...

BACKGROUND We previously reported that preformed anti-MHC class I-related chain A (MICA) antibodies increase the risk for renal graft rejection and enhance the deleterious effect of PRA(+) status early after transplantation. METHODS We studied 727 kidney recipients. Days to reach optimal serum creatinine level, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at Month 3 and chronic kidney disease ...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune multifactorial degenerative disease with detrimental affliction on central nervous system. MHC class I chain- related geneA,B(MICA and MICB) are nonclassical human leukocyte antigens that can affect on some diseases and also on transplantation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the MICA and MICB MRNA expression in multiple sclerosis patients. In ...

Introduction Family studies support a genetic contribution to Behçet’s disease (BD), with a sibling recurrence-risk ratio of 1152. The class I MHC molecule, HLA-B*51 (B*51), is the strongest known genetic risk factor for BD, however the gene immediately centromeric to HLA-B, MICA, has also been implicated in BD. Because of strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) between HLA-B and MICA, their respect...

MICA and MICB (MHC-class-I-related chain A/B) are transmembrane proteins expressed in pathological conditions that are ligands for NKG2D, an activating receptor found on cytotoxic lymphocytes. The recognition on target cells of NKG2D ligands leads to the activation of lysis and cytokine secretion by NK cells and T cells. Besides being expressed at the cell surface, MICA/B can be released as sol...

We compare the deformation patterns produced by sand and a sand mica mixture (14:1 ratio of sand to mica by weight) while simulating basin fill in extension and inversion models to analyze the potential of the sand mica mixture for applications that require a strong elasto-frictional plastic analogue material in physical models. Sand and the sand mica mixture have nearly equal angles of interna...

The MHC-encoded MHC class I-related chains A (MICA) glycoproteins are known to enhance the functions of NK and T cells by ligating the stimulating receptor NKG2D and appear to play an important role in host defense. Human CMV (HCMV) evades the immune response in many different ways, but has not previously been found to down-regulate MICA. We have found that a common form of MICA, which has a nu...