The RNaseIII enzyme Dicer is required for mature microRNA production. Although extensive investigation has been carried out to determine the role of Dicer/miRNAs in the immune system, their function in mature CD8(+) T cells has not been examined. We deleted Dicer in mature polyclonal and TCR transgenic CD8(+) T cells using either tat-cre or the distal lck promoter, which drives cre expression a...

T regulatory (Treg) cells have a key role in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. A CD4+CD69+ T cell subset has been described that behaves as Treg lymphocytes, exerting an important immune suppressive effect. In this study, we analyzed the levels and function of CD4+CD69+ Treg cells in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Blood samples were obtained fr...

Cluster of differentiation 69 (CD69), known as an early activation marker of lymphocytes, has been demonstrated to regulate inflammatory events in various disease models. Although the increased number of CD69-expressed T lymphocytes in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been reported, a functional role of CD69 in the pathogenesis of COPD remains unknown....

Virus host evasion genes are ready-made tools for gene manipulation and therapy. In this work we have assessed the impact in vivo of the evasion gene A238L of the African Swine Fever Virus, a gene which inhibits transcription mediated by both NF-κB and NFAT. The A238L gene has been selectively expressed in mouse T lymphocytes using tissue specific promoter, enhancer and locus control region seq...

AIM To validate intracellular cytokine production functional assay as means of cell-mediated immunity monitoring of post-transplant patients with opportunistic infection (OI). METHODS Intracellular cytokine-producing CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell monitoring was carried out in 30 liver transplant (LTr) and 31 kidney transplant (KTr) recipients from 2010 to 2012. Patients were assessed in our Department...

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is an inflammatory disorder of the nasal mucosa with high morbidity and prevalence. Natural killer (NK) cells might have a role in AR. We aimed to evaluate the changes of the markers and receptors on NK cells in AR patients compared to the non-atopic controls.Flow cytometric analysis was used with double staining of the Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) to examin...

BACKGROUND/AIM Dendritic cell-based vaccine therapy for renal cell carcinoma is effective but requires improvement. Here we explored whether combination therapy with dendritic cell-based vaccine and anti-CD69 antibody can enhance antitumor efficacy in renal cell carcinoma-bearing mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS Balb/c mice were challenged subcutaneously with murine renal cell carcinoma (Renca) ce...

A functional sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor antagonist specifically inhibited the egress of activated allospecific T cells from draining popliteal lymph nodes in alloantigen-sensitised mice. The level of S1P receptor 1 (S1PR1) mRNA was similarly reduced 1 and 3 days after mitogenic activation of T cells. However, the response of these cells to the S1PR1-specific agonist SEW2871 was only...