Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0007095 (carcinoid)
 6,990 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Nine patients with mid-gut carcinoid tumours received leucocyte interferon (IFN) i.m. daily for 90 days. Six patients clearly ameliorated in symptoms typical of the carcinoid syndrome (flushing, diarrhoea, asthma) which correlated with reduced serum levels of tumour related polypeptides and urinary output of 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA). Before IFN treatment, peripheral blood mononuclear leucocytes (PBLs) from carcinoid patients showed markedly deficient production of pH 2 labile IFN-alpha in response to Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I (SACoI) in vitro. In contrast, IFN-alpha responses to the inducers Sendai virus and beta-haemolytic streptococcus group G and IFN-gamma responses to Lens culinaris lectin and concanavalin A were normal. Also, basal and in vitro IFN enhanced natural killer (NK) cell activity and T cell mitogen-induced cell proliferation were similar in patients and controls. During 90 days of IFN therapy, SACoI-induced IFN responses became entirely undetectable. There were transient declines at 1 and 30 days in IFN responses to the other IFN inducers, of mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation and of basal NK activities. The increments of NK cell activities after in vitro IFN exposure were clearly decreased in IFN treated patients, suggesting in vivo activation of these cells. Thus, the results demonstrate one remarkable abnormality in carcinoid patients: a deficient IFN response to SACoI and a clear influence of IFN therapy on several parameters of the IFN-NK system.
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PMID:Evaluation of the natural killer cell-interferon system in patients with mid-gut carcinoid tumours treated with leucocyte interferon. 661 63

Dendritic cells (DC) resident in draining lymph nodes (LN) of patients with lung cancer are proposed to have a critical role in stimulating anti-tumor immunity. CpG oligodeoxynucleotides are undergoing clinical trials in patients with lung cancer and are likely to target plasmacytoid-DC. The present study, therefore, investigated the capacity of plasmacytoid-DC from human lung cancer draining LN to respond to CpG for activation of T cell responses relevant to anti-tumor immunity. The phenotype of DC was examined by flow cytometry, and cytokine production by cytometric bead array (CBA) and ELISA. Plasmacytoid-DC, purified by cell sorting, were immature but expressed the toll-like receptor, TLR9. Plasmacytoid-DC responded to the CpG oligodeoxynucleotide, CpG 2216, by production of the proinflammatory cytokines, IFN-alpha and IL-6. DC were cocultured with normal, allogeneic T cells, and cytokine production determined by CBA and immunophenotyping. CpG 2216 enhanced IFN-gamma production and induced intracellular production of IFN-gamma by CD8(+) and CD4(+), granzyme B by CD8(+), and IL-2 by CD4(+) T cells, respectively. Ligation of CD40 on plasmacytoid-DC combined with exposure to CpG 2216 also strongly enhanced IFN-gamma production. There was no significant difference between the responses of plasmacytoid-DC from patients with lung cancer and patients with benign carcinoid tumors with no pathologic LN involvement. These results indicate that plasmacytoid DC from the draining LN of patients with lung cancer effectively induce Tc1 immunity and could, therefore, represent a novel and attractive target for immunotherapeutic intervention.
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PMID:Plasmacytoid dendritic cells from human lung cancer draining lymph nodes induce Tc1 responses. 1702 87