Peptidoglycan‐induced T helper 2 immune response in mice involves interleukin‐10 secretion from Langerhans cells

Patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) have superficial skin colonization with Staphylococcus aureus and an increased number of T helper (Th)2 cells in their peripheral blood. The purpose of this study was to clarify the involvement of interleukin (IL)‐10 secretion from Langerhans cells (LCs) in staphylococcal peptidoglycan (PEG)‐induced Th2 immune responses in mice. Mice were primed with LCs pulsed with PEG (or LPS) and ovalbumin (OVA) and then given a booster OVA injection 2 days later in the hind footpad. Five days after the OVA injection, cytokine responses in the draining popliteal lymph nodes were investigated by RT‐PCR and ELISA. Production of both IL‐10 and IL‐12 by cultured LCs was detected by ELISA. Administration of PEG‐ or LPS‐stimulated LCs into the hind footpads of the mice induced Th2‐prone and Th1‐prone immune responses, respectively, as represented by expression of IL‐4 and interferon ‐γ . In vitro experiments showed that PEG induced greater production of IL‐12 p40 from LCs than did LPS, whereas LPS induced greater production of IL‐12 p70 from LCs than did PEG. Furthermore, it was found that PEG‐stimulated LCs induced greater production of IL‐10 than did LPS‐stimulated LCs, and that neutralization of IL‐10 augmented IL‐12 p70 production and inhibited Th2 development by PEG‐stimulated LCs. These results suggest that PEG can induce Th2 development through down‐regulation of IL‐12 p70 production by LCs in an IL‐10 production‐dependent manner and would explain the role of S. aureus colonization in patients with AD.     

Darker female pigeons transmit more specific antibodies to their eggs than do paler ones

Melanin‐based coloration is widespread among vertebrates, yet the adaptive significance of such pigments remains elusive, particularly with regard to the link between melanin and immune‐mediated maternal effects. The aim of this study was to investigate whether melanin‐based coloration could signal the ability of mothers to mount a humoral response and to transfer maternal antibodies (Ab) to their young. We injected differently coloured (pale and dark) female feral pigeons (Columba livia) with Chlamydiae (a natural antigen) and Keyhole Limpet Haemocyanin (KLH, an artificial antigen), and found no significant difference in humoral response between differently coloured females. However, darker females transferred more Ab against Chlamydiae into their eggs than paler ones, despite similar circulating levels of Ab. In addition to this, melanin‐based coloration showed a high heritability value. This suggests that a genetically based coloured trait might be linked to the ability of females to transfer specific Ab against Chlamydiae (but not against KLH) to their offspring, independent of their ability to produce Ab. This suggests that transmission of maternal Ab is antigen dependent, and that melanin‐based coloration might signal female ability to transmit specific Ab against natural pathogens. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London     

核酸疫苗初免-蛋白疫苗加强的免疫策略提高日本血吸虫核酸疫苗免疫效果

为研制抗血吸虫疫苗提供实验依据,探讨了抗血吸虫SjGST-32核酸疫苗与蛋白疫苗联合免疫的免疫增强效应及免疫应答特征。将日本血吸虫DNA疫苗VR1012-SjGST-32与重组蛋白疫苗rSjGST-32分别在第0、2和4周免疫小鼠,在第6周攻击感染日本血吸虫尾蚴,攻击感染45 d后剖杀小鼠,计算减虫率、检卵率以及检测肝脏病理变化,观察免疫保护效果;检测小鼠血清中特异性IgG抗体滴度,T细胞增殖反应和抗原特异性CD4+IFN-γ+、CD4+IL-4+和CD4+IL-10+的数量,探讨免疫应答特征。结果显示,DNA初免-蛋白加强的联合免疫组的保护作用优于单独免疫组,显著提高了减虫率(42.3%)和减卵率(59.6%),并且能够显著减轻血吸虫虫卵对肝脏的病理损害;进一步发现,DNA疫苗和蛋白疫苗联合应用增强了机体T淋巴细胞增殖反应、抗体IgG滴度以及抗原特异性CD4+IFN-γ+的产生。这些研究为新型血吸虫疫苗的优化设计和合理应用提供了依据。     

固有免疫应答与动脉粥样硬化关系的研究进展

固有免疫应答在动脉粥样硬化(atherosclerosis,As)的发生和发展中起重要作用．固有免疫应答细胞,包括单核/巨噬细胞、肥大细胞、自然杀伤细胞、中性粒细胞和树突状细胞,是机体抵御微生物和异物入侵的第一道防线．这些细胞广泛参与As中泡沫细胞形成、斑块内基质降解、细胞凋亡、血管新生和斑块破裂等事件．模式识别受体是免疫细胞上识别病原体(或某些内源性成分)相关分子模式的一类受体分子,包括Toll样受体和NOD样受体,介导固有免疫应答反应．Toll样受体在固有免疫应答细胞中具有不同程度的表达,在As中具有不同的作用,如TLR2和TLR4对As起促进作用,而TLR3具有As保护作用．NLRP3炎性体与动脉血管壁的早期损伤有关．对固有免疫应答细胞及模式识别受体在As形成中的作用进行深入研究,不仅有助于理解As的形成过程,而且还能为临床上防治心血管类疾病提供了新的治疗靶点和诊断指标．     

天然型调节性T细胞发育分化的研究进展

CD4 CD25 调节性T细胞(Treg)对维持自身免疫耐受及调控免疫应答水平发挥非常重要的作用．Treg的缺失或紊乱导致如多发性硬化症、1型糖尿病等自身免疫性疾病的发生．研究发现,Treg在肿瘤免疫、感染免疫和移植免疫耐受中也发挥关键作用．根据来源不同,可将Treg分为胸腺来源的天然型Treg(natural Treg)和外周诱导型Treg(induced Treg)两群．天然型Treg(nTreg)是由胸腺发育分化成熟的,nTreg存在于胸腺CD4单阳性细胞中,表达CD4、CD25及叉头转录因子Foxp3,主要通过细胞与细胞之间直接接触发挥免疫抑制功能．研究表明,nTreg在胸腺中发育分化受到十分复杂的细胞、分子网络调控．胸腺微环境、T细胞受体、共刺激分子、IL-2等信号都可影响nTreg的发育分化．本文将主要对胸腺nTreg的发育分化过程及分子调控等方面进行综述．     

Administration of a maple syrup extract to mitigate their hepatic inflammation induced by a high-fat diet: a transcriptome analysis

Effects of the administration of maple syrup extract (MSX) on hepatic gene expression were investigated in mice fed a high-fat diet. Gene annotation enrichment analysis based on gene ontology revealed some changes in the expression of genes related to lipid metabolism and the immune response in MSX-fed mice. Detailed analysis of these data indicated that MSX ingestion mitigates hepatic inflammation.     

A flexible docking approach for prediction of T cell receptor–peptide–MHC complexes

T cell receptors (TCRs) are immune proteins that specifically bind to antigenic molecules, which are often foreign peptides presented by major histocompatibility complex proteins (pMHCs), playing a key role in the cellular immune response. To advance our understanding and modeling of this dynamic immunological event, we assembled a protein–protein docking benchmark consisting of 20 structures of crystallized TCR/pMHC complexes for which unbound structures exist for both TCR and pMHC. We used our benchmark to compare predictive performance using several flexible and rigid backbone TCR/pMHC docking protocols. Our flexible TCR docking algorithm, TCRFlexDock, improved predictive success over the fixed backbone protocol, leading to near‐native predictions for 80% of the TCR/pMHC cases among the top 10 models, and 100% of the cases in the top 30 models. We then applied TCRFlexDock to predict the two distinct docking modes recently described for a single TCR bound to two different antigens, and tested several protein modeling scoring functions for prediction of TCR/pMHC binding affinities. This algorithm and benchmark should enable future efforts to predict, and design of uncharacterized TCR/pMHC complexes.     

Effects of chicken intestinal antimicrobial peptides on humoral immunity of chickens and antibody titres after vaccination with infectious bursal disease virus vaccine in chicken

Abstract

Sixty chickens were randomly divided into two groups (30 chickens in each group) to determine the effect of oral administration of chicken intestinal antimicrobial peptides (CIAMP) on the humoral immune response. Chickens of both groups were fed the same diet. In the treatment group chickens received drinking water supplemented with CIAMP (1 µg/ml) right after hatching. Samples of blood, bursa of Fabricus, spleen and intestine were taken at day 1, 4, 7, 10 and 17 of experiment. CIAMP supplementation enhanced the content of IgG and IgM in serum from day 4 – 10 and day 10 – 17, respectively, (p < 0.05), IgM-forming cells in bursa of Fabricus and spleen at the age of 7 days (p < 0.05) and IgG-forming cells in bursa of Fabricus at the age of 4 days (p < 0.05). In addition, CIAMP enhanced the IgA-forming cells in caecal tonsils diffuse area at day 4 (p < 0.05). Furthermore, CIAMP enhanced the antibody response to infectious bursal disease virus vaccine (IBDV) in chickens 21 days following IBDV vaccine administration (p < 0.05). These results suggested that CIAMP could modulate the humoral immune response of chickens and increased the antibody titres of infectious bursal disease virus vaccine.     

Colostrum and milk selenium,antioxidative capacity and immune status of dairy cows fed sodium selenite or selenium yeast

Dietary selenium (Se) can be supplemented from organic or inorganic sources and this may affect Se metabolism and functional outcome such as antioxidative status and immune functions in dairy cows. A feeding trial was performed with 16 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows fed with a total mixed ration (0.18 mg Se/kg dry matter (DM)) either without Se supplement (Control, n = 5), or with Se from sodium selenite (Group SeS, n = 5) or Se yeast (Group SeY, n = 6). In Groups SeS and SeY, the Se supplementation amounted to an additional intake of 4 mg Se and 6 mg Se/d during gestation and lactation, respectively. The effect of both Se sources was characterised by milk Se and antioxidant levels, and the phenotyping and functional assessment of phagocytic activity of milk immune cells. Se yeast has been found to increase (p ≤ 0.001) the milk Se and antioxidant levels markedly compared to the control group. The experimental treatment did not affect the immune parameters of the cows. Lymphocyte subpopulations and phagocytosis activity of neutrophilic granulocytes were affected neither by the Se intake nor by the two different dietary supplements. It can be concluded that sodium selenite and Se yeast differ considerably in their effects on antioxidant status in dairy cows. However, the basal dietary Se concentration of 0.18 mg/kg DM seemed to be high enough for the measured immune variables.