While Treg cell frequency was normal, its inhibitory function was absent before therapy and was partially recovered 6 months after abatacept. B

and Treg cell function is impaired in RA patients not responding to the first anti-TNF-α agent. Abatacept therapy was able to rescue immune function and led to an effective and safe clinical outcome, suggesting that RA patients, in whom anti-TNF-α failed, are immunologically MK0683 in vivo prone to benefit from an agent targeting a different pathway. “
“Citation Wang Y, Fan R, Gu Y, Adair CD. Digoxin immune Fab protects endothelial cells from ouabain-induced barrier injury. Am J Reprod Immunol 2012; 67: 66–72 Problem  Endogenous digitalis-like factors (EDLF) inhibit sodium pump Na+/K+ATPase activity, and maternal EDLF levels are elevated in preeclampsia (PE). This study determined whether digoxin immune Fab (DIF) could protect endothelial cells (ECs) from EDLF-induced endothelial barrier dysfunction. Method of study  ECs were treated with escalating doses of ouabain

(a known EDLF) in the presence or absence of DIF. EC barrier integrity was examined by junction protein VE-cadherin and occludin expressions. EC permeability was determined by horseradish-peroxidase (HRP) leakage and BVD-523 chemical structure transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER). Results  EC junction protein VE-cadherin distribution was disrupted in cells treated with ouabain. DIF, but not control IgG Fab fragment, blocked ouabain-induced decreases in VE-cadherin and occludin expressions

and prevented ouabain-induced HRP leakage and TEER changes. Conclusion  DIF protects ECs from ouabain-induced barrier injury, providing evidence of beneficial effects of DIF on EC function and supporting that Na+/K+ATPase might be a therapeutic target to ameliorate endothelial dysfunction. “
“Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA Immunity to tumor differentiation Telomerase antigens, such as melanoma antigen recognized by T cells 1 (MART-1), has been comprehensively studied. Intriguingly, CD8+ T cells specific for the MART-126(27)-35 epitope in the context of HLA-A0201 are about 100 times more abundant compared with T cells specific for other tumor-associated antigens. Moreover, MART-1-specific CD8+ T cells show a highly biased usage of the Vα-region gene TRAV12–2. Here, we provide independent support for this notion, by showing that the combinatorial pairing of different TCRα- and TCRβ- chains derived from HLA-A2–MART-126–35-specific CD8+ T-cell clones is unusually permissive in conferring MART-1 specificity, provided the CDR1α TRAV12–2 region is used. Whether TCR bias alone accounts for the unusual abundance of HLA-A2–MART-126–35-specific CD8+ T cells has remained conjectural.