Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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The function and activation requirements for gamma delta T cells residing in the human intestine are still poorly defined. We have established two gamma delta + T cell tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) lines derived from a primary colorectal cancer (gamma delta TIL No. 3481), and from a colorectal cancer lesion metastatic to the liver (gamma delta TIL No. 7279). Both gamma delta TIL lines used exclusively the V delta 1 segment and predominantly the V gamma 2 segments of the T cell receptor (TCR) variable regions and lysed allogeneic colorectal cancer cell lines, e.g. HCT 116, but not natural killer/lymphokine-activated-killer-sensitive target cell lines, e.g. K562 or Daudi. gamma delta T cell effector functions were evaluated on the basis of their recognition and cytolysis of colorectal cancer cell lines, T cell proliferation, and interferon (IFN)-gamma release. Both gamma delta T cell lines exhibited similar responses to the staphylococcal superantigens (SE) A and B. SEA and SEB did not influence target cell cytolysis of colon cancer targets. Neither gamma delta + T cell line responded to SEA as measured by IFN-gamma release of T cell proliferation. In marked contrast, SEB induced T cell proliferation and IFN-gamma release in the absence of stimulator cells. SEB induced secretion of IFN-gamma by gamma delta T cells which could be augmented if stimulator cells (HCT116) were also added to gamma delta T cells. On the basis of these data, we suggest that intestine-derived V delta 1/V gamma 2+ T cells respond preferentially to SEB and not to SEA. This disparity may reflect the inherently higher affinity of individual gamma delta TCR subsets for SEB but not to SEA and/or indicate that a subset of gamma delta + TILs in patients with colon cancer may be preferentially expanded with a TCR rearrangement favoring the interaction with SEB. The induction of IFN-gamma release and proliferative gamma delta + T cell responses by SEB suggests a pivotal role for intestinal gamma delta T cells in mediating immune responses against bacteria and bacterial products, or potentially in anti-tumor-directed immunity. Such immune responses mediated by gamma delta + T cells may take place prior to the maturation of antigen-specific MHC-restricted alpha beta + T cell responses.
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PMID:Human intestinal V delta 1+ T cells obtained from patients with colon cancer respond exclusively to SEB but not to SEA. 869 8

One of the main factor inducing rejection of the allogenic graft are the donor MHC-class II antigens. The cytotoxic damage or the elimination of these cells from the organ may influence his function after grafting. In this study, the influence of the continuous perfusion of the rat kidney with monoclonal antibody against rat MHC-class II antigens (MoAb 25D5) on graft survivals was investigated. For the perfusion, the HTK solution containing MoAb 25D5, rat complement (C) and Pentoxifilline (Ptx) was used. After one-hour perfusion at 21 degrees C kidney were transplanted to the syngenic (LEW-LEW) or allogenic (Da-LEW) recipients, kidney perfused with the solution containing MoAb 25D5 and C survived statistically longer (14.0 +/- 2.4 days) than in the control group without perfusion (7.7 +/- 0.5 days) or after perfusion with the solution containing only Ptx (7.8 +/- 0.8 days). It seems likely that the continuous perfusion of the rat kidney with HTK protective solution containing MoAb against MHC-class II antigens and C can reduce the immunogenicity of the graft.
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PMID:[Prolongation of allogenic rat renal graft survival after perfusion the organ with anti-MHC class II antibody]. 875 5

Two methods to generate human dendritic cells from hematopoietic precursor cells in peripheral blood have recently been published. One approach utilizes the rare CD34+ precursors and GM-CSF plus TNF-alpha. The other method makes use of the more abundant CD34- precursor population and GM-CSF plus IL-4. Here we report a method that is based on the latter approach. However, the GM-CSF and IL-4 treated cells are not stable mature dendritic cells, e.g., the characteristic morphology and nonadherence of dendritic cells is lost if the cytokines are removed. We describe the need for a monocyte-conditioned medium to generate fully mature and stable dendritic cells. This is achieved by adding a 3 day 'maturation culture' to the initial 6-7 day culture in the presence of GM-CSF and IL-4. Macrophage-conditioned medium contains the critical maturation factors. Mature dendritic cells are defined by their pronounced display of motile cytoplasmic processes ('veils'), their high capacity to induce proliferative responses in resting T cells, particularly in naive umbilical cord T cells, their down-regulated antigen processing ability, and their characteristic phenotype: expression of CD83, high levels of MHC molecules and CD86, lack of CD115 and perinuclear dot-like CD68 staining. These features are stable for at least 3 days upon withdrawal of cytokines and conditioned media. IL-4 can be replaced by IL-13. When CD34+ progenitors are depleted from blood, there is only a minor reduction in the yield of dendritic cells by this method. We have adapted the method to consider several variables that are pertinent to clinical use, including a change from fetal calf serum to human plasma and to media approved for clinical use like X-VIVO or AIM-V. 1% plasma and RPMI 1640 are currently optimal. Additional reagents used for cell culture (Ig. cytokines) and cell separation (immunomagnetic beads) are approved for or already used in clinical applications. For 40 ml blood, the yield is 0.8-3.3 x 10(6) mature dendritic cells as defined by the expression of the new dendritic cell-restricted marker CD83. CD83+ cells constitute between 30 and 80% of all cells recovered at the end of the culture period. Yields can be enhanced up to six-fold if the blood donors are pretreated with G-CSF. Stable, mature dendritic cells generated by this method should be a powerful tool for active immunotherapy.
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PMID:Generation of mature dendritic cells from human blood. An improved method with special regard to clinical applicability. 884 52

We have cloned and sequenced a genomic region centromeric of the HLA-B locus from different MHC ancestral haplotypes. These haplotypes are associated with several diseases. The sequences were analyzed for coding potential and their relevance to disease associations were assessed with respect to the level of polymorphism. Analysis of sequences located approximately 25kb centromeric of HLA-B reveals the existence of fibroblast growth factor receptor related sequences. These sequences designated PERB1 (FGFR6) reveal 80% homology, at both nucleic acid and amino acid level, to the immunoglobulin domain 1 (Ig-1) of the human fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) gene. Amino acid comparison of the Ig-1 domain of PERB1 to those of other FGFR molecules indicates that PERB1 is more closely related to FGFR3 and FGFR5 than to FGFR1, FGFR2 or FGFR4. Genomic sequence analysis, however, reveals no consensus splice sites and indicates the existence of inframe premature stop codons in the putative coding sequences. The results suggest that these sequences may represent FGFR gene fragments existing within the central MHC. Sequence analysis of the Mhc in 6 chimpanzee and one orangutan indicates that the existence of PERB1 predates the speciation of the three species. The fact that the MHC contains a mixture of functional and nonfunctional (pseudo) genes suggests that a functional copy of PERB1 (FGFR6) may exist within or in close proximity to the MHC.
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PMID:The primate MHC contains sequences related to the fibroblast growth factor receptor gene family. 886 77

Staphylococcus aureus produces a set of proteins (e.g., staphylococcal enterotoxin A [SEA], SEB, toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 [TSST-1]) which act both as superantigens (SAgs) and toxins. Although their mode of action as SAgs is well understood, little is known about how they enter the body via the intestine and cause food poisoning. To examine this problem we used an in vitro culture system to study the capacity of class II MHC-negative human intestinal epithelial cells (Caco-2) to transcytose several staphylococcal toxins. We found that Caco-2 cells are capable of dose-dependent, facilitated transcytosis of SEB and TSST-1, but not SEA. We extended these studies in vivo in mice by showing that ingested SEB appears in the blood more efficiently than SEA. Our data suggest that these toxins can cross the epithelium in an immunologically intact form. These results may have important implications for the pathogenesis of food poisoning.
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PMID:Transcytosis of staphylococcal superantigen toxins. 912 25

In the process of positionally cloning a candidate gene responsible for hereditary hemochromatosis (HH), we constructed a 1.1-Mb transcript map of the region of human chromosome 6p that lies 4.5 Mb telomeric to HLA-A. A combination of three gene-finding techniques, direct cDNA selection, exon trapping, and sample sequencing, were used initially for a saturation screening of the 1.1-Mb region for expressed sequence fragments. As genetic analysis further narrowed the HH candidate locus, we sequenced completely 0.25 Mb of genomic DNA as a final measure to identify all genes. Besides the novel MHC class 1-like HH candidate gene HLA-H, we identified a family of five butyrophilin-related sequences, two genes with structural similarity to a type 1 sodium phosphate transporter, 12 novel histone genes, and a gene we named RoRet based on its strong similarity to the 52-kD Ro/SSA lupus and Sjogren's syndrome auto-antigen and the RET finger protein. Several members of the butyrophilin family and the RoRet gene share an exon of common evolutionary origin called B30-2. The B30-2 exon was originally isolated from the HLA class 1 region, yet has apparently "shuffled" into several genes along the chromosome telomeric to the MHC. The conservation of the B30-2 exon in several novel genes and the previously described amino acid homology of HLA-H to MHC class 1 molecules provide further support that this gene-rich region of 6p21.3 is related to the MHC. Finally, we performed an analysis of the four approaches for gene finding and conclude that direct selection provides the most effective probes for cDNA screening, and that as much as 30% of ESTs in this 1.1-Mb region may be derived from noncoding genomic DNA.
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PMID:A 1.1-Mb transcript map of the hereditary hemochromatosis locus. 914 41

Extensive research has led to accumulation of common hereditary evidence concerning ovarian and breast cancer, suggesting that these two cancers can be considered as one type. Subsequently, women with breast cancer are susceptible to the risk of developing ovarian cancer. Highly expressed oncogenes such as bcl-2, HER2/neu and others or mutated suppressor genes such as p53 or BRCA1 have been characterised as hereditary susceptibility genes leading to syndromes such as breast/ovarian cancer syndrome, Li-Fraumeni and others. Furthermore, these genetic alterations can cause potent chemoresistance by inhibiting induction of apoptosis after DNA damage caused by chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Presently, molecular onco-biology has enabled us not only to detect susceptibility to ovarian and breast cancer but also ways to inhibit their further progression or even circumventing chemoresistance mechanisms after their development by gene therapy using delivery vectors such as liposomes or viruses, by which we can replace wild-type tumour suppressor genes or by using antigene, antisense oligonucleotides and antisense RNA leading to reduced oncogene expression, enabling induction of apoptosis after DNA damage into chemoresistant tumour cells. Furthermore efflux-genes such as MDR-1 or MRP can be circumvented, suicide-genes can be employed which can facilitate sensitivity by encoding enzymes capable of converting inactive forms of a drug into toxic antimetabolites and immunotherapy can be achieved, by transfection of tumour cells with adenoviral vectors encoding immunomodulators such as IL-2 or MHC molecules. Thus, molecular biology appears to be a very strong element for the screening, diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of ovarian and breast cancer. However, consistent future research is greatly needed because many points concerning ovarian and breast cancer genetics are still unknown. Finally, we strongly believe that gene therapy could be extremely useful when is combined with conventional therapy against ovarian and breast tumours.
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PMID:Molecular aspects of breast and ovarian cancer. 937 59

Staphylococcal enterotoxin B is a member of a family of toxins known as superantigens that activate a large number of T-cells (up to 20%) by cross-linking MHC class II molecules with T-cell receptors in a Vbeta-restricted fashion. The crystal structure of staphylococcal enterotoxin B presented here has been determined at 1.5 A resolution, the highest resolution so far for a superantigen. The final model contains 1948 protein atoms and 177 water molecules and has excellent geometry with root-mean-square (rms) deviation of 0.007 A and 1.73 degrees in bond lengths and bond angles, respectively. The overall fold is similar to that of other microbial superantigens, but as it lacks the zinc-binding site found in other members of this family, such as staphylococcal enterotoxin A, C2 and D, this enterotoxin possesses only one MHC class II binding site. Comparison of the crystal structure of free SEB and in complex with an MHC class II molecule revealed no major changes in the MHC-binding site upon complex formation. However, a number of water molecules found in the free SEB may be displaced in the complex or contribute further to its stability. Detailed analysis of the TcR-binding site of SEB, SEA and SEC2 shows significant differences which may account for the ability of each superantigen to bind specific Vbeta sequences.
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PMID:Crystal structure of microbial superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin B at 1.5 A resolution: implications for superantigen recognition by MHC class II molecules and T-cell receptors. 951 39

HLA-DM facilitates peptide acquisition by MHC class II proteins within the endosomes of APC by facilitating release of invariant chain peptide intermediates (CLIP) from the class II molecules. T2 cells have a deletion in the MHC II region which deletes HLA-DM and MHC II genes. T2 cells transfected with MHC class II proteins are defective in protein presentation, a defect that is corrected by HLA-DM transfection. Here we show that T2 cells transfected with Ak are also impaired in binding and presentation of the superantistaphylococcal enterotoxin A and that HLA-DM transfection corrects this defect. The poor ability of SEA to bind to Ak on DM-deficient cells is somewhat surprising since Ak has a low affinity for CLIP and is not predominantly occupied with CLIP on T2 cells compared to wide-type APC. These data suggest an influence of HLA-DM on the structure or composition of the Ak/peptide complex beyond its role in the release of invariant chain peptides.
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PMID:Quantitative defect in staphylococcal enterotoxin A binding and presentation by HLA-DM-deficient T2.Ak cells corrected by transfection of HLA-DM genes. 957 18

Hydrostatic pressure (P) combined with membrane protein crosslinking (CL) by adenosine dialdehyde (AdA) can render tumor cells immunogenic. We have recently shown that PCL treatment of murine tumor cells augmented the presentation of MHC-restricted tumor-associated antigens and enhanced cell-mediated immunity. In cancer patients inoculated with autologous PCL-modified tumor cells, a significant delayed-type hypersensitivity response was elicited. Since the balance between cell-mediated immunity and humoral immunity is reciprocally controlled by immunoregulatory cytokines, we have examined the proliferative response and cytokine secretion pattern in cultures of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated by autologous PCL-modified and unmodified tumor cells. These tumor cells were obtained from freshly resected tumor tissue of 16 patients with colon (8), lung (4) and renal (4) carcinomas. The results demonstrated that PCL-modified tumor cells promoted an increase in PBMC proliferation in 5 out of 8 (63%), 1 out of 4 (25%) and 4 out of 4 (100%) colon, lung and renal cell carcinomas. Fourteen of the above cultures were also analyzed for the secretion of interleukin-10 and interferon-gamma. Overall, a substantial decrease in IL-10 secretion was detected in 9 out of 14 (64%) cultures while a reciprocal increase in interferon-gamma secretion was noted in 8 out of 14 (57%) cultures. Our results confirmed that PCL-modified human tumor cells of different etiologies can modulate the pattern of cytokines released from stimulated autologous lymphocytes. Such a procedure could prove valuable in the production of autologous tumor vaccines.
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PMID:Human tumor cells, modified by a novel pressure/crosslinking methodology, promote autologous lymphocyte proliferation and modulate cytokine secretion. 975 14


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