Immune Recognition Of Self Nucleic Acids Driven By Endogenous Antimicrobial Peptides: Role In Autoimmunity,
2010
University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston
Immune Recognition Of Self Nucleic Acids Driven By Endogenous Antimicrobial Peptides: Role In Autoimmunity, Dipyaman Ganguly
Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)
Innate immune recognition of extracellular host-derived self-DNA and self-RNA is prevented by endosomal seclusion of the Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the dendritic cells (DCs). However, in psoriasis plasmacytoid dendritic cells have been found to be able to sense self-DNA molecules in complex with the endogenous cationic antimicrobial peptide LL37, which are internalized into the endosomal compartments and thus can access TLR9. We investigated whether this endogenous peptide can also interact with extracellular self-RNA and lead to DC activation. We found that LL37 binds self-RNA as well as self-DNA going into an electrostatic interaction; forms micro-aggregates of nano-scale particles protected from …
Efficacy And Mechanism Of Â-Defensin2 Fused Antigen Protein Vaccines,
2010
University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston
Efficacy And Mechanism Of Â-Defensin2 Fused Antigen Protein Vaccines, Hyun J. Park
Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)
Vaccines which use the strategy of fusing adjuvant murine â-defensin2 (mBD2) to an antigen in order to elicit stronger anti-antigen immune responses are referred to as murine â-defensin2 (mBD2) vaccines. Previous studies have validated the potential of mBD2 vaccines, thus in this study we focus on increasing vaccine efficacy as well as mechanism elucidation. Initially, we demonstrate superior IFN-ã release levels by antigen specific effector T cells when antigen is crosspresented by dendritic cells (DC) which absorbed mBD2 vaccine (mBD2 fused antigen protein) over antigen alone. We move unto an in vivo model and note significant increases in the expansion …
Characterization And Optimization Of Antigen-Specific T Cell Responses During Ex Vivo Expansion Of Melanoma Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes,
2010
University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston
Characterization And Optimization Of Antigen-Specific T Cell Responses During Ex Vivo Expansion Of Melanoma Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes, Yufeng Li
Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)
Treatment of metastatic melanoma with tumor reactive T cells (adoptive T cell therapy, ACT) is a promising approach associated with a high clinical response rate. However, further optimization of this treatment modality is required to increase the clinical response after this therapy. ACT in melanoma involves an initial phase (pre-REP) of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) expansion ex vivo from tumor isolates followed by a second phase, “rapid expansion protocol” (REP) generating the billions of cells used as the TIL infusion product. The main question addressed in this thesis was how the currently used REP affected the responsiveness of the CD8+ T …
Aspergillus Fumigatus Stimulates The Nlrp3 Inflammasome Through A Pathway Requiring Ros Production And The Syk Tyrosine Kinase,
2010
University of California, Merced
Aspergillus Fumigatus Stimulates The Nlrp3 Inflammasome Through A Pathway Requiring Ros Production And The Syk Tyrosine Kinase, Najwane Saïd-Sadier, Eduardo V. Padilla, Gordon Langsley, David M. Ojcius
All Dugoni School of Dentistry Faculty Articles
Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a life-threatening disease that occurs in immunodepressed patients when infected with Aspergillus fumigatus. This fungus is the second most-common causative agent of fungal disease after Candida albicans. Nevertheless, much remains to be learned about the mechanisms by which A. fulmigatus activates the innate immune system. We investigated the inflammatory response to conidia and hyphae of A. fumigatus and specifically, their capacity to trigger activation of an inflammasome. Our results show that in contrast to conidia, hyphal fragments induce NLRP3 inflammasome assembly, caspase-1 activation and IL-1β release from a human monocyte cell line. The ability of Aspergillus …
