Schistosoma mansoni: schistosomulicidal activity of macrophages isolated from liver granulomas of infected mice

Mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni develop T cell-mediated granulomatous reactions around disseminated parasite eggs. In this study, granuloma-derived leucocytes have been examined for schistosomulicidal capacity by the use of in vitro cytotoxicity assays. Adherent macrophages, that were shown by electron microscopy to exhibit no gross morphological abnormalities, were unable to mediate significant mortality in the absence of serum factors. When cocultured with immune serum and complement, however, these cells killed +/- 26% of the larvae at a cell:target ratio of 5000:1. In contrast, granuloma-derived cell populations that were enriched for eosinophils (50-70% eosinophil content) showed only minimal cytotoxic potential. This may be related to observed structural changes in the eosinophil lysosomal granules, or perhaps to blocking of the cell-surface receptors by immune complexes. It is concluded that granuloma macrophages, activated by egg antigen-sensitised T lymphocytes, may serve as effector cells in immunity to schistosomules.     

Trichinella spiralis: Generation in the presence of rat serum of factors chemotactic for rat cells

Chemotaxis of rat peritoneal cells, of which the eosinophil was the predominant migratory cell type, toward incubates of Trichinella spiralis was studied using a modified Boyden chamber. Excysted muscle larvae, preadults, and adults were incubated in a buffered medium for 20 hr at 37 C. Worms were incubated alone or with serum or spleen cells, or both, from immune and nonimmune rats. Incubates of worm stages alone possessed no chemotactic activity as compared with incubation medium as a negative control and zymosan-activated serum as a positive control. Both normal and immune sera tested alone stimulated cell migration to the same degree. Incubates of spleen cells from either normal or immunized hosts did not show chemotactic activity. Chemotaxis caused by normal and immune sera were not altered by incubation with homologous spleen cells. Addition of larva, preadults, and adult worms to sera, however, enhanced chemotactic activity over sera alone. Chemotaxis caused by larvae plus immune sera was significantly greater than that stimulated by larvae plus normal sera. This difference decreased when preadults were substituted for larvae and was not observed when adult worms were used. Reversal of the chemical gradients showed that active cell migration caused by various incubates was due to Chemotaxis.     

Rapid isolation of plant peroxidase. Purification of peroxidase a from Petunia

A rapid isolation procedure was developed for purification of peroxidase a from Petunia hybrida . Rapid isolation was possible since about 15% of the extracellular protein from stem tissue obtained by vacuum infiltration followed by centrifugation of the tissue represents peroxidase. Purification of peroxidase a from intercellular fluid was achieved by two acetone precipitation steps followed by DEAE-cellulose chromatography.
Three different forms of peroxidase were eluted from DEAE-cellulose at different NaCl concentrations. Isoelectric focusing showed, however, a pI of 3.8 for all three forms of peroxidase a . Only part of the peroxidase a enzymes bound to Concanavalin A indicating heterogeneity in the carbohydrate part. Homology of peroxidase a to the peroxidase G₁ group from tobacco is discussed.     

Prognostic value and immune cell infiltration of hypoxic phenotype‐related gene signatures in glioblastoma microenvironment

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a malignant intracranial tumour with the highest proportion and lethality. It is characterized by invasiveness and heterogeneity. However, the currently available therapies are not curative. As an essential environmental cue that maintains glioma stem cells, hypoxia is considered the cause of tumour resistance to chemotherapy and radiation. Growing evidence shows that immunotherapy focusing on the tumour microenvironment is an effective treatment for GBM; however, the current clinicopathological features cannot predict the response to immunotherapy and provide accurate guidance for immunotherapy. Based on the ESTIMATE algorithm, GBM cases of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data set were classified into high‐ and low‐immune/stromal score groups, and a four‐gene tumour environment‐related model was constructed. This model exhibited good efficiency at forecasting short‐ and long‐term prognosis and could also act as an independent prognostic biomarker. Additionally, this model and four of its genes (CLECL5A, SERPING1, CHI3L1 and C1R) were found to be associated with immune cell infiltration, and further study demonstrated that these four genes might drive the hypoxic phenotype of perinecrotic GBM, which affects hypoxia‐induced glioma stemness. Therefore, these might be important candidates for immunotherapy of GBM and deserve further exploration.     

TGFβ2 is a prognostic‐related biomarker and correlated with immune infiltrates in gastric cancer

TGFβ2 is an essential regulator of immune cell functionality, but the mechanisms whereby it drives immune infiltration in gastric cancer remain uncertain. The Oncomine and Tumor Immunoassay Resource (TIMER) databases were used for assessing the expression of TGFβ2, after which TIMER was used to explore the relationship between TGFβ2 and tumour immune infiltration. Finally, we assessed how TGFβ2 expression correlated with the expression of a set of marker genes associated with immune infiltration using TIMER and GEPIA. We determined TGFβ2 expression to be significantly correlated with outcome in multiple types of cancer in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), with the effect being particularly pronounced in gastric cancer. Furthermore, elevated TGFβ2 expression was found to be significantly correlated with gastric cancer N staging, and with the expression of a variety of immune markers associated with particular immune cell subsets. These results indicate that TGFΒ2 is associated with patient outcome and tumour immune cell infiltration in multiple cancer types. This suggests that TGFβ2 is a key factor which governs immune cell recruitment to gastric cancer tumours, potentially playing a vital role in governing immune cell infiltration and thus representing a valuable prognostic biomarker in gastric cancer patients.     

Identification of key genes and novel immune infiltration-associated biomarkers of sepsis

Sepsis is the major cause of mortality in the intensive care unit. The aim of this study was to identify the key prognostic biomarkers of abnormal expression and immune infiltration in sepsis. In this study, a total of 36 differentially expressed genes were identified to be mainly involved in a number of immune-related Gene Ontology terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways. The hub genes (MMP9 and C3AR1) were significantly related to the prognosis of sepsis patients. The immune infiltration analysis indicated a significant difference in the relative cell content of naive B cells, follicular Th cells, activated NK cells, eosinophils, neutrophils and monocytes between sepsis and normal controls. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis and a de-convolution algorithm that quantifies the cellular composition of immune cells were used to analyse the sepsis expression data from the Gene Expression Omnibus database and to identify modules related to differential immune cells. CEBPB is the key immune-related gene that may be involved in sepsis. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that CEBPB is involved in the processes of T cell selection, B cell–mediated immunity, NK cell activation and pathways of T cells, B cells and NK cells. Therefore, CEBPB may play a key role in the biological and immunological processes of sepsis.