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Fulltext Chronic Viral Infection Compromises the Quality of Circulating Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells and Follicular T Helper Cells via Expression of Inhibitory Receptors

Vimali J, Yong YK, Murugesan A, Tan HY, Zhang Y, Ashwin R, et al.

Front Biosci (Landmark Ed), 2024 Mar 22;29(3):128.
PMID: 38538288 DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2903128

BACKGROUND: Chronic viral infection results in impaired immune responses rendering viral persistence. Here, we compared the quality of T-cell responses among chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals by examining the levels of expression of selected immune activation and exhaustion molecules on circulating MAIT cells and Tfh cells.
METHODS: Cytokines were measured using a commercial Bio-plex Pro Human Cytokine Grp I Panel 17-plex kit (BioRad, Hercules, CA, USA). Inflammation was assessed by measuring an array of plasma cytokines, and phenotypic alterations in CD4+ T cells including circulating Tfh cells, CD8+ T cells, and TCR iVα7.2+ MAIT cells in chronic HBV, HCV, and HIV-infected patients and healthy controls. The cells were characterized based on markers pertaining to immune activation (CD69, ICOS, and CD27) proliferation (Ki67), cytokine production (TNF-α, IFN-γ) and exhaustion (PD-1). The cytokine levels and T cell phenotypes together with cell markers were correlated with surrogate markers of disease progression.
RESULTS: The activation marker CD69 was significantly increased in CD4+hi T cells, while CD8+ MAIT cells producing IFN-γ were significantly increased in chronic HBV, HCV and HIV infections. Six cell phenotypes, viz., TNF-α+CD4+lo T cells, CD69+CD8+ T cells, CD69+CD4+ MAIT cells, PD-1+CD4+hi T cells, PD-1+CD8+ T cells, and Ki67+CD4+ MAIT cells, were independently associated with decelerating the plasma viral load (PVL). TNF-α levels showed a positive correlation with increase in cytokine levels and decrease in PVL.
CONCLUSION: Chronic viral infection negatively impacts the quality of peripheral MAIT cells and Tfh cells via differential expression of both activating and inhibitory receptors.

Matched MeSH terms: T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/metabolism
Fulltext Long non-coding RNA expression in primary human monocytes

Mirsafian H, Manda SS, Mitchell CJ, Sreenivasamurthy S, Ripen AM, Mohamad SB, et al.

Genomics, 2016 07;108(1):37-45.
PMID: 26778813 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2016.01.002

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to possess a wide range of functions in both cellular and developmental processes including cancers. Although some of the lncRNAs have been implicated in the regulation of the immune response, the exact function of the large majority of lncRNAs still remains unknown. In this study, we characterized the lncRNAs in human primary monocytes, an essential component of the innate immune system. We performed RNA sequencing of monocytes from four individuals and combined our data with eleven other publicly available datasets. Our analysis led to identification of ~8000 lncRNAs of which >1000 have not been previously reported in monocytes. PCR-based validation of a subset of the identified novel long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) revealed distinct expression patterns. Our study provides a landscape of lncRNAs in monocytes, which could facilitate future experimental studies to characterize the functions of these molecules in the innate immune system.

Matched MeSH terms: T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/metabolism
Fulltext Identification of Four-Jointed Box 1 (FJX1)-Specific Peptides for Immunotherapy of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Chai SJ, Yap YY, Foo YC, Yap LF, Ponniah S, Teo SH, et al.

PLoS One, 2015;10(11):e0130464.
PMID: 26536470 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130464

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is highly prevalent in South East Asia and China. The poor outcome is due to late presentation, recurrence, distant metastasis and limited therapeutic options. For improved treatment outcome, immunotherapeutic approaches focusing on dendritic and autologous cytotoxic T-cell based therapies have been developed, but cost and infrastructure remain barriers for implementing these in low-resource settings. As our prior observations had found that four-jointed box 1 (FJX1), a tumor antigen, is overexpressed in NPCs, we investigated if short 9-20 amino acid sequence specific peptides matching to FJX1 requiring only intramuscular immunization to train host immune systems would be a better treatment option for this disease. Thus, we designed 8 FJX1-specific peptides and implemented an assay system to first, assess the binding of these peptides to HLA-A2 molecules on T2 cells. After, ELISPOT assays were used to determine the peptides immunogenicity and ability to induce potential cytotoxicity activity towards cancer cells. Also, T-cell proliferation assay was used to evaluate the potential of MHC class II peptides to stimulate the expansion of isolated T-cells. Our results demonstrate that these peptides are immunogenic and peptide stimulated T-cells were able to induce peptide-specific cytolytic activity specifically against FJX1-expressing cancer cells. In addition, we demonstrated that the MHC class II peptides were capable of inducing T-cell proliferation. Our results suggest that these peptides are capable of inducing specific cytotoxic cytokines secretion against FJX1-expressing cancer cells and serve as a potential vaccine-based therapy for NPC patients.

Matched MeSH terms: T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/metabolism
Fulltext Immunomodulatory properties of Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein (THP) and uromodulin

Hong CY, Wong NK, Abdullah M

Asian Pac J Allergy Immunol, 2015 Mar;33(1):26-32.
PMID: 25840631 DOI: 10.12932/AP0463.33.1.2015

Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein (THP) and uromodulin are the most abundant glycoproteins in non-pregnant women's/men's and pregnant women's urine, respectively. However, the bioactivities of these glycoproteins are still unclear.

Matched MeSH terms: T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/metabolism