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Full-Text Articles in Immunology and Infectious Disease

A License To Kill: Understanding Natural Killer Cell Licensing To Fight Cancer, Jolie Schafer Dec 2017

A License To Kill: Understanding Natural Killer Cell Licensing To Fight Cancer, Jolie Schafer

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Natural killer (NK) cell education is an essential developmental process for NK cell effector function, that renders some NK cells “licensed” and others “unlicensed” (with heightened or lowered effector function potential, respectively) against tumor and targets lacking self-molecules. However, the underlying mechanisms responsible for the heightened effector responses of licensed cells remain unknown. Using NK cells derived from humans and expanded ex vivo we performed high-throughput protein expression analysis, and identified multiple proteins that are differentially regulated in licensed and unlicensed human NK cells before and after inhibition by killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) and activation by the NKp46 natural cytotoxicity …


Characterization Of Murine Breast Cancer Cell Lines For Anti-Cancer Vaccine, Haven N. Frazier May 2017

Characterization Of Murine Breast Cancer Cell Lines For Anti-Cancer Vaccine, Haven N. Frazier

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States (1). While treatments involving radiation and chemotherapy currently exist, disease must be detected early in order for the treatments to be somewhat effective, and there is no effective treatment after metastasis occurs (2). Additionally, current therapies do not mitigate tumor immunosuppression. Decreasing the tumor-associated immunosuppressive conditions while activating antitumor immunity could prevent recurrence and metastasis, possibly leading to an effective treatment for cancer (3). Tumor cell vaccines could possibly address this issue and have become a …


A Novel Role For Osteopontin In Facilitating West Nile Virus Neuroinvasion, Amber M. Paul May 2017

A Novel Role For Osteopontin In Facilitating West Nile Virus Neuroinvasion, Amber M. Paul

Dissertations

West Nile virus (WNV) is a positive-sensed, single-stranded RNA flavivirus that can cause human neuroinvasive diseases, including encephalitis, meningitis, and flaccid paralysis. The mechanisms by which WNV enters the central nervous system and the host-factors that are involved in WNV-neuroinvasiveness are not completely understood. Osteopontin (OPN), a multifunctional glycoprotein, has been implicated as a bio-marker for a number of neuroinflammatory diseases. In particular, secreted (s)OPN has been implicated to participate in recruitment of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) to sites of its expression, while PMNs have been suggested to act as WNV reservoirs. Therefore, sOPN recruitment of PMNs may contribute to neuroinvasive …


Validation Of The Pre-B Cell Receptor As A Therapeutic Target In B Cell Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Michael F. Erasmus Apr 2017

Validation Of The Pre-B Cell Receptor As A Therapeutic Target In B Cell Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Michael F. Erasmus

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

This dissertation is built upon the fundamental idea that the pre-B cell receptor (pre-BCR) is important to leukemia cell survival and a logical therapeutic target in B cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL). The pre-BCR is expressed early at a specific stage during B cell development where it plays a central role in survival of healthy B lymphocytes. This receptor is composed of the membrane heavy chain (mIgμ) associated with surrogate light chain components, 5 and VpreB. Through the use of advanced imaging modalities, in particular two-color single particle tracking (SPT), we showed that pre-BCRs formed transient, homotypic interactions. These …


Immune Evasion By Division Of Labor: The Trophic Life Cycle Stage Of Pneumocystis Murina Suppresses Innate Immunity To This Opportunistic, Fungal Pathogen, Heather M. Evans Jan 2017

Immune Evasion By Division Of Labor: The Trophic Life Cycle Stage Of Pneumocystis Murina Suppresses Innate Immunity To This Opportunistic, Fungal Pathogen, Heather M. Evans

Theses and Dissertations--Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics

Pneumocystis species are opportunistic fungal pathogens that cause severe pneumonia in immunocompromised hosts, including AIDS patients. Pneumocystis species have a biphasic life cycle consisting of single-nucleated trophic forms and ascus-like cysts. Both stages live within the host, and, thus, must contend with threats from the host immune system. The cyst cell wall β-glucans have been shown to stimulate immune responses in lung epithelial cells, dendritic cells and alveolar macrophages. Little is known about how the trophic life forms, which do not have a fungal cell wall, interact with immune cells. In this study, the immune response to the life cycle …


The Effect Of Gram-Positive Staphylococcus Aureus Cell Wall Components Lipoteichoic Acid And Peptidoglycan On Cytokine Production, Cytoskeletal Arrangement, And Cell Viability On Raw 264.7 Murine Macrophages, Gabrielle String Jan 2017

The Effect Of Gram-Positive Staphylococcus Aureus Cell Wall Components Lipoteichoic Acid And Peptidoglycan On Cytokine Production, Cytoskeletal Arrangement, And Cell Viability On Raw 264.7 Murine Macrophages, Gabrielle String

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In this study, gram positive Staphylococcus aureus cell wall components such as lipoteichoic acid (LTA) and peptidoglycan (PGN) were used to study the potential inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine response, cytoskeletal arrangement and cell viability on RAW264.7 murine macrophages over 24 hours. The effect of S.aureus LTA and PGN (5 [mu]g/mL) on RAW 264.7 macrophages was evaluated every six hours for twenty-four hours. Inflammatory cytokine (TNF-a) production peaked at 6 hours before decreasing over time. Anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) production peaked between 12 and 18 hours. During the first twenty-four hours, cytotoxicity of treated macrophages, as defined as the release of lactate …


Effect Of Exposure Of Raw264.7 Macrophages To Salmonella Typhimurium Components On Cell Viability, Cytoskeleton Re-Arrangement And Cytokine Secretion, Khalid Abdullah Alyahya Jan 2017

Effect Of Exposure Of Raw264.7 Macrophages To Salmonella Typhimurium Components On Cell Viability, Cytoskeleton Re-Arrangement And Cytokine Secretion, Khalid Abdullah Alyahya

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Innate immune system plays an important role in individual's protection against pathogens and in activation of adaptive immune system. Utilizing RAW 264.7 murine macrophages as an innate immune response representative in this study, we analyzed the effect of invasive pathogen's components (e.g. flagellin) on the arrangement of macrophage's cytoskeleton, on viability of immune cells and on secretion of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and on fluorescence intensity of cytoskeleton after rearrangement. Additionally, we studied the similarity and differences between bacterial (Salmonella typhimurium) and synthetic TLR4 agonist (synthetic lipid-A) on viability, fluorescence intensity, cytokine secretion, and cytoskeleton rearrangements. Similarly, we studied the …


The Effect Of Gram-Positive Staphylococcus Aureus Cell Wall Components Lipoteichoic Acid And Peptidoglycan On Cytokine Production, Cytoskeletal Arrangement, And Cell Viability On Raw 264.7 Murine Macrophages, Gabrielle String Jan 2017

The Effect Of Gram-Positive Staphylococcus Aureus Cell Wall Components Lipoteichoic Acid And Peptidoglycan On Cytokine Production, Cytoskeletal Arrangement, And Cell Viability On Raw 264.7 Murine Macrophages, Gabrielle String

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In this study, gram positive Staphylococcus aureus cell wall components such as lipoteichoic acid (LTA) and peptidoglycan (PGN) were used to study the potential inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine response, cytoskeletal arrangement and cell viability on RAW264.7 murine macrophages over 24 hours. The effect of S.aureus LTA and PGN (5 µg/mL) on RAW 264.7 macrophages was evaluated every six hours for twenty-four hours. Inflammatory cytokine (TNF-a) production peaked at 6 hours before decreasing over time. Anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) production peaked between 12 and 18 hours. During the first twenty-four hours, cytotoxicity of treated macrophages, as defined as the release of lactate …


The Impact Of Socs1 And Socs3 Peptide Mimetics On Rho And Cdc42 Proteins Expression, F-Actin Cytoskeleton Rearrangements, And Cytokines Production Of Uninfected And Hsv-1 Infected M1 And M2 Raw 264.7 Murine Macrophages, Maha A. Elwardany Jan 2017

The Impact Of Socs1 And Socs3 Peptide Mimetics On Rho And Cdc42 Proteins Expression, F-Actin Cytoskeleton Rearrangements, And Cytokines Production Of Uninfected And Hsv-1 Infected M1 And M2 Raw 264.7 Murine Macrophages, Maha A. Elwardany

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The immune system plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of HSV-1 during the lytic phase of the disease, orchestrating the inflammatory response, retaining the virus in its latent phase and preventing the recurrence of HSV-1 infection. Macrophages display a vital role in the innate and adaptive immune responses during multiple phases of HSV-1 infection. Polarized macrophages are categorized into two distinct classes with diverse functions. The classically activated M1 can engulf and destroy the microbial agents, produce proinflammatory cytokines, and participate in the pathogenesis of many inflammatory diseases. The alternatively activated M2 induces anti-inflammatory mediators and stimulates tissue remodeling …