scholarly journals Research progress in immunological mechanisms of Cryptococcus

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2.1) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Ying Song ◽  
Yufang Qiu ◽  
Weiyou Liu ◽  
Xiaoliang Yuan

Whether infection of Cryptococcus causes disease in host or not depends on the virulence of the pathogen and the immune defense ability of the host. Cryptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans) mainly causes opportunistic infections in the immunocompromised or immunodeficient patients. In contrast, Cryptococcus gattii (C. gattii) mainly attacks the immunocompetent individuals. On the one hand, the host immune cells can eliminate the invasive Cryptococcus through a complex immune mechanism; on the other hand, Cryptococcus can evade the clearance of host immune cells by adopting various strategies (immune escape). This review mainly focuses on the pathogenic mechanism of Cryptococcus, and the host’s immune defense mechanism against cryptococcal infection.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2.1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Ling Cao ◽  
Xiaoliang Yuan

Sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin 9 (Siglec-9) is a receptor that expresses on the surface of immune cells. It plays an important role in the body’s immune response. Increased expression of Siglec-9 has been reported in infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Pathogenic microorganism and tumor cells can inhibit the recognition and killing of immune cells by upregulating their own specific sialic acid and binding with Siglec-9 on the surface of host immune cells, and suppress the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and promote the release of anti-inflammatory cytokines, eventually leading to immunosuppression, tumor immune escape and the like. However, the immunosuppressive function of Siglec-9 may be advantageous for diseases such as neutrophil asthma and autoimmune diseases. Therefore, further research on the mechanism of action of Siglec-9 is of great significance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kele Cui ◽  
Shouxin Hu ◽  
Xinyu Mei ◽  
Min Cheng

Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most common mucosa-associated tumors, and is characterized by aggressiveness, poor prognosis, and unfavorable patient survival rates. As an organ directly exposed to the risk of foodborne infection, the esophageal mucosa harbors distinct populations of innate immune cells, which play vital roles in both maintenance of esophageal homeostasis and immune defense and surveillance during mucosal anti-infection and anti-tumor responses. In this review, we highlight recent progress in research into innate immune cells in the microenvironment of EC, including lymphatic lineages, such as natural killer and γδT cells, and myeloid lineages, including macrophages, dendritic cells, neutrophils, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, mast cells and eosinophils. Further, putative innate immune cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in tumor occurrence and progression are discussed, to highlight potential directions for the development of new biomarkers and effective intervention targets, which can hopefully be applied in long-term multilevel clinical EC treatment. Fully understanding the innate immunological mechanisms involved in esophageal mucosa carcinogenesis is of great significance for clinical immunotherapy and prognosis prediction for patients with EC.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Sanching Tsay ◽  
Alan S. Lee ◽  
Guy Avraham ◽  
Darius E. Parvin ◽  
Jeremy Ho ◽  
...  

Motor learning experiments are typically run in-person, exploiting finely calibrated setups (digitizing tablets, robotic manipulandum, full VR displays) that provide high temporal and spatial resolution. However, these experiments come at a cost, not limited to the one-time expense of purchasing equipment but also the substantial time devoted to recruiting participants and administering the experiment. Moreover, exceptional circumstances that limit in-person testing, such as a global pandemic, may halt research progress. These limitations of in-person motor learning research have motivated the design of OnPoint, an open-source software package for motor control and motor learning researchers. As with all online studies, OnPoint offers an opportunity to conduct large-N motor learning studies, with potential applications to do faster pilot testing, replicate previous findings, and conduct longitudinal studies (GitHub repository: https://github.com/alan-s-lee/OnPoint).


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. ii70-ii70
Author(s):  
Javier Urcuyo ◽  
Andrea Hawkins-Daarud ◽  
Susan Massey ◽  
Jeffrey Bruce ◽  
Peter Canoll ◽  
...  

Abstract Glioblastoma (GBM) is the one of the most aggressive and common primary brain malignancies, with a poor median overall survival of less than 15 months. While the immune system is activated and brain-resident microglia and blood-derived macrophages combat the tumor, the tumor can convert some microglia and macrophages to instead exhibit an immune-suppressive phenotype. These co-opted immune cells are thereby termed ‘glioma-associated microglia and macrophages’ (GAMMs), as they allow for continued tumor growth. However, limited clinical data has been collected to understand this phenomenon. As a result, we have collected spatially-distributed image-localized biopsies from a cohort of patients and performed RNA sequencing on each sample. Correlations between normalized RNA counts of genetic markers for macrophages (i.e., CD68, CD163), tumor populations (i.e., SOX2, OLIG2), and key cell functions (i.e., KI67, CASP3) were analyzed. To further investigate the temporal effects that GAMMs have on GBM growth, we proposed the Proliferation-Invasion-Macrophage (PIM) model. This system of partial differential equations incorporates the proliferative and invasive behavior of GBM, as well as populations for both ‘healthy’ and ‘glioma-associated’ macrophages. By exploring the parameter space, we classified the various dynamics of tumor progression and how they relate to the immune response. With further insights of the interactions between GBM and macrophage populations, we can begin to parameterize the model on a patient-specific basis and provide insights to personalized immunotherapies and other novel immune-targeted treatments.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linchong Sun ◽  
Huafeng Zhang ◽  
Ping Gao

AbstractMetabolic rewiring and epigenetic remodeling, which are closely linked and reciprocally regulate each other, are among the well-known cancer hallmarks. Recent evidence suggests that many metabolites serve as substrates or cofactors of chromatin-modifying enzymes as a consequence of the translocation or spatial regionalization of enzymes or metabolites. Various metabolic alterations and epigenetic modifications also reportedly drive immune escape or impede immunosurveillance within certain contexts, playing important roles in tumor progression. In this review, we focus on how metabolic reprogramming of tumor cells and immune cells reshapes epigenetic alterations, in particular the acetylation and methylation of histone proteins and DNA. We also discuss other eminent metabolic modifications such as, succinylation, hydroxybutyrylation, and lactylation, and update the current advances in metabolism- and epigenetic modification-based therapeutic prospects in cancer.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1585
Author(s):  
Annamaria Paolini ◽  
Rebecca Borella ◽  
Sara De Biasi ◽  
Anita Neroni ◽  
Marco Mattioli ◽  
...  

Cell death mechanisms are crucial to maintain an appropriate environment for the functionality of healthy cells. However, during viral infections, dysregulation of these processes can be present and can participate in the pathogenetic mechanisms of the disease. In this review, we describe some features of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and some immunopathogenic mechanisms characterizing the present coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Lymphopenia and monocytopenia are important contributors to COVID-19 immunopathogenesis. The fine mechanisms underlying these phenomena are still unknown, and several hypotheses have been raised, some of which assign a role to cell death as far as the reduction of specific types of immune cells is concerned. Thus, we discuss three major pathways such as apoptosis, necroptosis, and pyroptosis, and suggest that all of them likely occur simultaneously in COVID-19 patients. We describe that SARS-CoV-2 can have both a direct and an indirect role in inducing cell death. Indeed, on the one hand, cell death can be caused by the virus entry into cells, on the other, the excessive concentration of cytokines and chemokines, a process that is known as a COVID-19-related cytokine storm, exerts deleterious effects on circulating immune cells. However, the overall knowledge of these mechanisms is still scarce and further studies are needed to delineate new therapeutic strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin-Fu Sun ◽  
Jiang Pi ◽  
Jun-Fa Xu

Exosomes are cell-derived nanovesicles carrying protein, lipid, and nucleic acid for secreting cells, and act as significant signal transport vectors for cell-cell communication and immune modulation. Immune-cell-derived exosomes have been found to contain molecules involved in immunological pathways, such as MHCII, cytokines, and pathogenic antigens. Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), remains one of the most fatal infectious diseases. The pathogen for tuberculosis escapes the immune defense and continues to replicate despite rigorous and complicate host cell mechanisms. The infected-cell-derived exosomes under this circumstance are found to trigger different immune responses, such as inflammation, antigen presentation, and activate subsequent pathways, highlighting the critical role of exosomes in anti-MTB immune response. Additionally, as a novel kind of delivery system, exosomes show potential in developing new vaccination and treatment of tuberculosis. We here summarize recent research progress regarding exosomes in the immune environment during MTB infection, and further discuss the potential of exosomes as delivery system for novel anti-MTB vaccines and therapies.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 5856
Author(s):  
Myung-Chul Kim ◽  
Zeng Jin ◽  
Ryan Kolb ◽  
Nicholas Borcherding ◽  
Jonathan Alexander Chatzkel ◽  
...  

Several clinicopathological features of clear cell renal cell carcinomas (ccRCC) contribute to make an “atypical” cancer, including resistance to chemotherapy, sensitivity to anti-angiogenesis therapy and ICIs despite a low mutational burden, and CD8+ T cell infiltration being the predictor for poor prognosis–normally CD8+ T cell infiltration is a good prognostic factor in cancer patients. These “atypical” features have brought researchers to investigate the molecular and immunological mechanisms that lead to the increased T cell infiltrates despite relatively low molecular burdens, as well as to decipher the immune landscape that leads to better response to ICIs. In the present study, we summarize the past and ongoing pivotal clinical trials of immunotherapies for ccRCC, emphasizing the potential molecular and cellular mechanisms that lead to the success or failure of ICI therapy. Single-cell analysis of ccRCC has provided a more thorough and detailed understanding of the tumor immune microenvironment and has facilitated the discovery of molecular biomarkers from the tumor-infiltrating immune cells. We herein will focus on the discussion of some major immune cells, including T cells and tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) in ccRCC. We will further provide some perspectives of using molecular and cellular biomarkers derived from these immune cell types to potentially improve the response rate to ICIs in ccRCC patients.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loredana Stabili ◽  
Maria Parisi ◽  
Daniela Parrinello ◽  
Matteo Cammarata

The phylum Cnidaria is an ancient branch in the tree of metazoans. Several species exert a remarkable longevity, suggesting the existence of a developed and consistent defense mechanism of the innate immunity capable to overcome the potential repeated exposure to microbial pathogenic agents. Increasing evidence indicates that the innate immune system in Cnidarians is not only involved in the disruption of harmful microorganisms, but also is crucial in structuring tissue-associated microbial communities that are essential components of the Cnidarian holobiont and useful to the animal’s health for several functions, including metabolism, immune defense, development, and behavior. Sometimes, the shifts in the normal microbiota may be used as “early” bio-indicators of both environmental changes and/or animal disease. Here the Cnidarians relationships with microbial communities and the potential biotechnological applications are summarized and discussed.


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