K46J B lymphomas express a T cell costimulatory activity that is not inhibited by CTLA-4Ig, anti-B7-1, anti-B7-2, anti-intercellular adhesion molecule 1 or antibodies to heat stable antigen. In this paper we report that this costimulatory activity is mediated at least in part by 4-1BB ligand, a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) gene family that binds to 4-1BB, a T cell activation antige...

The outcome for advanced stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains poor, highlighting the need for novel therapies. Genetically modified mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are actively being explored as cancer therapeutics due to their inherent ability to migrate to tumor sites. We reasoned that MSCs can be genetically modified to redirect T cells to Glypican-3 (GPC3)+ HCC, and genetically modifi...

In this work, we addressed the possibility to enhance the "in vitro" generation of CTLs recognizing tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) by using an inactivated recombinant vaccinia virus encoding B7.1 and B7.2 costimulatory molecules (rVV-B7.1/2). Antigen presenting cells (APCs) infected by rVV-B7.1/2 and pulsed with MART-1/Melan-A27-35 HLA-A2.1-restricted peptide induced significantly higher spec...

A number of in vitro studies have suggested that costimulatory molecules B7-1 and B7-2 and their receptor CD28 can promote clonal deletion, and limited in vivo studies have indicated that CD28 is involved in the clonal deletion of some T cells. However, the significance of B7-mediated clonal deletion in preventing autoimmune diseases has not been studied systematically. Here we report that the ...

UNLABELLED Despite the very high percentage of long-term remissions in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children, some of them suffer from recurrence of the disease. New treatment modalities, e.g. effective geno- and immunotherapy are needed. The use of neoplasmatic cells to present tumor antigens is one of the approaches in cancer vaccines. ALL cells lack the expression of costimulatory m...

DNA vaccination is known to elicit robust cellular and humoral responses to encoded antigen. The co-administration of costimulatory molecules CD80 (B7-1), CD86 (B7-2) and CD154 (CD40L) has been shown to enhance immune responses in several murine models. The role of specific costimulatory molecules in non-rodent species remains incompletely characterized. In these studies, we demonstrate that th...

As immunological dysregulation is a possible key defect in atopic diseases, we have studied the expression and function of costimulatory molecules in atopic dermatitis (AD) patients compared with normal controls. Using ̄ow cytometry, we showed that CD80 and CD86 are expressed at increased levels on human peripheral B cells in both groups after stimulation with anti-CD40 and interleukin 4 (IL-4),...

Recombinant vaccinia virus (rVV) encoding tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) and adhesion or costimulatory molecules may represent important immunogenic reagents for cancer immunotherapy. Recently, intranodal (IN) antigen administration was suggested to be more immunogenic than intradermal (ID) vaccination. However, IN rVV administration has not been attempted so far. We used a rVV encoding gp100...

Dendritic cells (DC) are sentinels of immunity, essential for homeostasis of T cell-dependent immune responses. Both functions of DC, initiation of antigen-specific T cell immunity and maintenance of tissue-specific tolerance originate from distinct stages of differentiation, immunogenic versus tolerogenic. Dependent on local micro milieu and inflammatory stimuli, tissue resident immature DC wi...

background: atherosclerosis is a multifactorial disorder with chronic inflammatory conditions in which immune cells play a significant role in its pathogenic process. regulatory t cells (treg), as a part of immune system, are involved in controlling autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. quantitative and/or functional alteration of tregs has been shown to play an atheroprotective role and may al...