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Background: In vitro stimulation of whole blood or isolated blood cells with specific antigens is used for several purposes. Immediately following incubation with antigens, samples have to be centrifuged to stop the reactions by remaining cells and the supernatant refrigerated or analysed directly to preserve the analytes of interest, which makes samples difficult to prepare outside laboratories. We have tested whether spotting whole blood on filter paper after activation can be used in one of the tests for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (MTI), the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In Tube test (QFT), where the spotting technique can make it suitable for use in locations without facilities like a centrifuge and a refrigerator. Materials and methods: Samples from 22 individuals undergoing screening for MTI and 10 healthy controls were incubated, centrifuged and IFN-γ measured by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), as described in the kit insert. In parallel, activated blood was spotted on filter paper (Schleicher & Schuell) and dried. The dried blood spot samples were analysed for 21 inflammatory markers with an in-house assay based on Luminex technology. Results: Our multiplex measurements of inflammatory markers in samples from suspected MTI patients confirmed the IFN-γ findings in the QFT. IL-2, GM-CSF, IL-5, and IL-1β were also found as useful markers for MTI. We were not able to distinguish between active tuberculosis and latent MTI. Conclusion: Applying blood on filter paper after incubation makes in vitro stimulation tests feasible in locations where heat and electricity is unavailable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features a cross-sectional study conducted by M.P. Ponda, J.E. Breslow, et. al., that revealed that remedying a Vitamin D (VD) deficiency among patients with dyslipidemia does not necessarily result in a significant improvement of their blood lipid levels. It also cites a study by A. Gonen, S. Amir, et. al. that analyzed the potential of certain peptide mimotopes of malondialdehyde-modified LDL (MDA-LDL) antigens to serve as useful markers for diagnosing cardiovascular diseases.

Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is a delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction induced by repeated contact with sensitizers. The ability of a chemical to act as a sensitizer has most frequently been tested in animals. As the use of animals for these purposes is gradually and globally being phased out, there is a need for reliable in vitro surrogate assays. Currently proposed in vitro assays are designed to test four key events of the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) involving covalent modification of self-proteins by sensitizers (haptenation) and presentation of new antigens (hapten/carrier complexes) to the immune system. There appears to be imperfect alignment of in vitro assays with clinical and/or animal data, suggesting possibly additional mechanisms of ACD development. Indeed, studies on allergies to small drugs, small chemical-induced HLA-peptide exchange for vaccination purposes and cosmetic ingredient-induced exposure of autoantigens suggest a possibility of DTH response promotion by hapten/carrier-independent mechanisms. Therefore, there is a need for additional appropriate in vitro assays, in order to achieve maximal concordance between clinical and/or animal data and in vitro assays. In this paper, we will review evidence supporting the idea of diverse mechanisms of ACD development. We will also discuss the impact of these multiple mechanisms, on the AOP and on the in vitro assays that should be used for allergen detection. We will propose alloreactivity-like reactions, aided by computer modeling and biochemical tests of compound-HLA binding, as additional tools for better prediction of DTH reactions, resulting from exposure to ingredients in cosmetic products. The combination of the proposed tests, along with the existing assays, should further enhance animal-free assessment of sensitizing potential of individual chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of kernel-based machine algorithms have recently been used to study protein-protein interaction in the field of bioinformatics. In this paper we develop a kernel-based machine algorithm called multiple criteria quadratic programming (MCQP) to predict the distance range between antibody interface residues and the antigen surface in antigen-antibody complex. Antibodies bind their antigen using residues, which are part of the hypervariable loops. In this paper we explore the interaction between antibody interface residues and antigen in the study of antibody functions. The distance between the antibody's interface residue and the antigen surface is one of the antigen-antibody binding characteristics used to observe the details of the antibody-antigen interaction surface. The results predicted by MCQP are compared with those predicted by the support vector machine (SVM). The MCQP algorithm classifies observations into distinct groups based on a number of criteria via a hyperplane. MCQP shows strong advantages for distances of 8 Å and 10 Å. However, SVM gives better results for a distance of 12 Å. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunoaffinity chromatography can be applied to the treatment of biological samples. It consists of the separation, extraction, or purification of a molecule (para nitro analine in this paper) from a mixture by a selective interaction with an antibody. The latter is produced by living organisms after their contact with an antigen (modified protein in this case). The production of specific antibodies highly depends on the purity of antigen. This paper describes and compares two methods of antigen purification: dialysis and gel permeation chromatography. This chromatographic method allows one to obtain a pure antigen faster than dialysis but with a slightly larger dilution of the samples. It is not a drawback for the procedure of the antibodies production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the use of frequentist and Bayesian shared-parameter joint models of longitudinal measurements of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and the risk of prostate cancer (PCa). The motivating dataset corresponds to the screening arm of the Spanish branch of the European Randomized Screening for Prostate Cancer study. The results show that PSA is highly associated with the risk of being diagnosed with PCa and that there is an age-varying effect of PSA on PCa risk. Both the frequentist and Bayesian paradigms produced very close parameter estimates and subsequent 95% confidence and credibility intervals. Dynamic estimations of disease-free probabilities obtained using Bayesian inference highlight the potential of joint models to guide personalized risk-based screening strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We recently identified a novel role for podosomes in antigen sampling. Podosomes are dynamic cellular structures that consist of point-like concentrations of actin surrounded by integrins and adaptor proteins such as vinculin and talin. Podosomes establish cellular contact with the extracellular matrix (ECM) and facilitate cell migration via ECM degradation. In our recent paper, we studied podosomes of human dendritic cells (DCs), major antigen presenting cells (APC) that take-up, process, and present foreign antigen to naive T-cells. We employed gelatin-impregnated porous polycarbonate filters to demonstrate that the mechanosensitive podosomes of DCs selectively localize to regions of low-physical resistance such as the filter pores. After degradation of the gelatin, podosomes increasingly protrude into the lumen of these pores. These protrusive podosome-derived structures contain several endocytic and early endosomal markers such as clathrin, Rab5, and VAMP3, and, surprisingly, also contain C-type lectins, a type of pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs). Finally, we performed functional uptake experiments to demonstrate that these PRRs facilitate uptake of antigen from the opposite side of the filter. Our data provide mechanistic insight in how dendritic cells sample for antigen across epithelial barriers for instance from the lumen of the lung and gut. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The use of antibodies in cancer therapy has come a long way since the day Paul Ehrlich described the concept and Kohler and Milstein devised the hybridoma technology to bring this theory to reality. The synthesis of murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) was the first success in this field, leading to the invention of chimerization, the production of variable fragments (Fv) with the progression to domain antibodies (dAb) and later humanization technologies to maximize the clinical utility of murine mAbs. It was just by chance that dAbs were found to exist in ''heavy chain'' immunoglobulins from Camelidae family and cartilaginous fish. These unique antibody fragments interact with antigen by virtue of only one single variable domain, referred to as VHH or nanobody. Several characteristics make nanobody use superior to the abovementioned antibodies. They are non-immunogenic and show high thermal and chemical stability. There are several reports of raising specific nanobodies against enzymes, haptens, pathogens, toxins and tumor markers, which are outlined in this paper. All these characteristics make them strong candidates as targeting agents for cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular automata (CA) have been increasingly used in simulating urban expansion and land-use dynamics. However, most urban CA models rely on empirical data for deriving transition rules, assuming that the historical trend will continue into the future. Such inertia CA models do not take into account possible external interventions, particularly planning policies, and thus have rarely been used in urban and land-use planning. This paper proposes to use artificial immune systems (AIS) as a technique for incorporating external interventions and generating alternatives in urban simulation. Inspired by biological immune systems, the primary process of AIS is the evolution of a set of 'antibodies' that are capable of learning through interactions with a set of sample 'antigens'. These 'antibodies' finally get 'matured' and can be used to identify/classify other 'antigens'. An AIS-based CA model incorporates planning policies by altering the evolution mechanism of the 'antibodies'. Such a model is capable of generating different scenarios of urban development under different land-use policies, with which the planners will be able to answer 'what if' questions and to evaluate different options. We applied an AIS-based CA model to the simulation of urban agglomeration development in the Pearl River Delta in southern China. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed model can be very useful in exploring various planning scenarios of urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Several studies confirm that botulinum toxins type A (BTX-A) are effective for reducing facial lines caused by hyperactive muscles. Two different commercial types of BTX-A currently available are BTX-A-1 (Botox™) and BTX-A-2 (Dysport™). This paper reports further comparison of dosing, efficacy and safety. Methods: Sites treated: glabellar, horizontal forehead lines and crow’s feet. Different dilutions and dosages were studied with BTX-A-1 and BTX-A-2. The reduction of facial lines was evaluated by investigators and patients. Computerized photographic numerical assessment was also studied in determining the efficacy of BTX-A for crow’s feet lines. Results: Study 1: Injecting glabellar lines at doses of BTX-A-1 (30 units) and BTX-A-2 (75 units) (2.5:1 ratio BTX-A2:BTX-A1) showed similar efficacy. Study 2: BTX-A-2 (256 units total) was significantly more effective than BTX-A-1 (64 units total) (i.e. a dose ratio of 4:1) for upper face lines. No differences in the side-effect profiles between the two toxins were observed in either study. Study 3: A computerized photographic numerical assay was an objective assessment of crow’s feet severity. Using a dose ratio of BTX-A-2 to BTX-A-1 of 3:1 showed a trend towards BTX-A-2 superiority. Conclusion: Two different botulinum toxins type A were shown to be effective and safe for hyperfunctional facial lines. The choice of dose, dilution and placement is critical for each individual toxin. Computerized photography gave numerical severity scores of crow’s feet severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the preparation of a monoclonal antibody (Mab) against maduramicin (MD) and the development of a simple and sensitive ELISA for MD in chicken tissues. MD was conjugated to bovine serum albumin for immunogens and ovalbumin for coating antigens by mixed anhydride (MA) and active ester (AE) methods. Hybridoma cells were generated using spleen cells from a mouse immunized with MD-BSA conjugate. After screening with ELISA, the Mab with high anti-interference ability and high affinity was selected, and it exhibited negligible cross-reactivity with other usual-used polyether antibiotics. After optimization, the developed ELISA showed an IC50 value of 2.12 ± 0.46 ng/ml (n = 20). Chicken muscle and liver samples were extracted with methanol-8% NaCl solution (4:1) and then directly diluted with PBS-10% methanol for analysis. The recoveries of MD from spiked chicken tissues at levels of 40-480 µg/kg ranged from 81.3% to 91.3% with variation coefficients of 5.2-12.1%, and the detection limits were 6.5 µg/kg in muscle and 9.2 µg/kg in liver, respectively (n = 20). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intestinal environment is considered to play an important role both in colorectal tumor development and in the evolution and modulation of mucosal immunity. Studies in animals reared in germ-free (GF, without any intestinal microflora) versus conventional (CV, with regular microflora in bowel) conditions can aid in clarifying the influence of bacteria on carcinogenesis and anti-cancer immune responses in situ. The lower incidence of colon cancers and better immunological parameters in GF animals versus CV ones after chemically-induced carcinogenesis raises questions about specific characteristics of the immunological networks in each respective condition. Different levels of tolerance/regulatory mechanisms in the GF versus CV animals may influence the development of immune responses not only at the level of mucosal, but also at the systemic, immunity. We hypothesize that GF animals can better recognize and respond to evolving neoplasias in the bowel as a consequence of their less-tolerogenic immunity (i.e., due to their more limited exposure to antigens to become tolerated against at the intestinal level). In this paper, we review the role of bacteria in modulating gut environment and mucosal immunity, their importance in cancer development, and aspects of immune regulation (both at local and systemic level) that can be modified by bacterial microflora. Lastly, the use of GF animals in comparison with conventionally-raised animals is proposed as a suitable and potent model for understanding the inflammatory network and its effect on cancer immunity especially during colorectal cancer development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, two formats of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) with the monoclonal antibody were adopted and compared to detect triazophos residue in an environmental water sample that employed a heterologous coating conjugate. The sensitivity and specificity of the two formats, indirect format (antigen-coated ELISA) and direct format (antibody-coated ELISA), were satisfied after most of the factors used to influence the analytical results of an immunoassay to triazophos were tested and optimised. Results showed that I50 and I20 were 2.54 and 0.54 ng/ml for the indirect format and 0.65 and 0.12 ng/ml for the direct format, respectively, without obvious cross-reactivity to other organophosphorus pesticide analogues tested. The mean recoveries of water samples spiked with triazophos were 115 and 103% for the indirect and direct format, respectively, and their mean coefficients of variation were 9.0 and 10.9%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nasal vaccination is a promising alternative to classical parental vaccination, as it is non-invasive and, in principle, capable of eliciting strong systemic and local immune responses. However, the protective efficacy of nasally administered antigens is often impaired because of delivery problems: free antigens are readily cleared from the nasal cavity, poorly absorbed by nasal epithelial cells and generally have low intrinsic immunogenicity. In this review paper, we describe the main physiological hurdles to nasal vaccine delivery, survey the progress made in technological approaches to overcome these hurdles and discuss emerging opportunities for improving nasal vaccines. According to current insights, encapsulation of the antigen into bioadhesive (nano)particles is a promising approach towards successful nasal vaccine delivery. These antigen-loaded particles can be tailor made by supplying them with targeting ligands, adjuvants or endosomal escape mediators to form the desired vaccine that provides long-lasting protective immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been interest in the development of techniques for the rapid early detection of mycotoxigenic moulds in the food production chain. The development of sensor arrays that respond to the presence of different volatiles produced by such moulds has been examined as a potential method for the development of such detection systems. Commercial devices based on such sensor arrays, so-called 'electronic noses', have been examined extensively for the potential application of determining the presence of mycotoxigenic moulds in food raw materials. There is also interest in using the qualitative volatile production patterns to discriminate between non-mycotoxigenic and mycotoxigenic strains of specific mycotoxigenic species, e.g. Fusarium section Liseola, Penicillium verrucosum and Aspergillus section Nigri. This paper reviews the technology and available evidence that the non-destructive analysis of the headspace of samples of food raw materials or the discrimination between strains (mycotoxigenic and non-mycotoxigenic) can be determined using volatile fingerprints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of antigen-recognizing receptors in the innate immune system significantly helped us to understand the initiation and regulation of the innate immune response. Dectin-1 was recently identified as the most important receptor for β-glucan. Recognition of β-glucan by dectin-1 triggers effective immune response, including phagocytosis and proinflammatory factor production, to eliminate infecting fungi, which especially benefits immunocompromised patients against opportunistic fungal infection. In addition, dectin-1 is involved in the adaptive immune response as well as autoimmune diseases and immune tolerance. In this paper, we will mainly focus on the characteristics of dectin-1 and its biological role in immune response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper was to study the incidence, risk factors, clinical outcome, management and prevention of pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) following major ABO-incompatible allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We retrospectively analyzed 11 cases of PRCA from a series of 42 patients undergoing major ABO-incompatible allo-HSCT from April 1997 to December 2005. Eleven out of the 42 patients developed PRCA (26.1%). All the 11 cases of PRCA were in blood group O recipients of grafts from blood group A donor (n = 9) or blood group B donor (n = 2). The following factors were associated with an increased risk of PRCA: (1) blood group O recipient; (2) blood group A donor; and (3) blood group O/A in recipient/donor pair. Only blood group O/A in recipient/donor pair was identified as being significantly associated with the occurrence of PRCA by multivariate analysis. Six patients who received donor-type plasma exchange did not develop PRCA and among them 5 cases were the blood group O recipients. Eight patients obtained spontaneous remission and in the remaining 3 patients 2 with long-lasting PRCA were successfully treated with plasma exchange with donor-type plasma replacement and the other one who was also complicated by EBV-associated lymphoproliferative disorder (EBV-PTLD) responded rapidly to anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody and achieved complete resolution of clinical finding and symptom of both EBV-PTLD and PRCA. We conclude that blood group A/O in donor/recipient pair is identified as being significantly associated with the occurrence of PRCA by multivariate analysis. Donor-type plasma exchange and anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody is an effective approach for the treatment of PRCA. PRCA could be prevented by plasma exchange prior to transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human blood samples collected from local malaria clinics, hospitals, and by cross‐sectional surveys in malaria endemic areas were tested by enzyme immunoassay for circulating malarial antigen, antimalarial antibody, and antigen‐specific circulating immune complexes. The assays were done in serum and finger‐prick blood absorbed on filter paper. The results obtained from the present study suggest their roles as effective immunometric indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camelidae are known to produce immunoglobulins (Igs) devoid of light chains and constant heavy-chain domains (CH 1 ). Antigen-specific fragments of these heavy-chain IgGs (VHH) are of great interest in biotechnology applications. This paper describes the first example of successfully raised heavy-chain antibodies in Camelus dromedarius (single-humped camel) and Camelus bactrianus (two-humped camel) against a MUC1 related peptide that is found to be an important epitope expressed in cancerous tissue. Camels were immunized against a synthetic peptide corresponding to the tandem repeat region of MUC1 mucin and cancerous tissue preparation obtained from patients suffering from breast carcinoma. Three IgG subclasses with different binding properties to protein A and G were purified by affinity chromatography. Both conventional and heavy-chain IgG antibodies were produced in response to MUC1-related peptide. The elicited antibodies could react specifically with the tandem repeat region of MUC1 mucin in an enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). Anti-peptide antibodies were purified after passing antiserum over two affinity chromatography columns. Using ELISA, immunocytochemistry and Western blotting, the interaction of purified antibodies with different antigens was evaluated. The antibodies were observed to be selectively bound to antigens namely: MUC1 peptide (tandem repeat region), human milk fat globule membrane (HMFG), deglycosylated human milk fat globule membrane (D-HMFG), homogenized cancerous breast tissue and a native MUC1 purified from ascitic fluid. K a values of specific polyclonal anti-peptide antibodies were estimated in C. dromedarius and C. bactrianus , as 7 × 10 10 M - 1 and 1.4 × 10 10 M - 1 respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and empirically evaluates a new biologically-inspired adaptation mechanism for network applications in the NetSphere architecture. The NetSphere architecture is inspired by the observation that the biological systems (e.g. bee colonies) have already developed mechanisms necessary to achieve future network requirements such as autonomy and adaptability. In the NetSphere architecture, a network application is implemented as a group of distributed and autonomous agents (analogous to a bee colony consisting of multiple bees). Each agent implements a functional service related to the application and follows simple behaviors similar to biological entities such as reproduction, replication, migration and environment sensing. The proposed agent adaptation mechanism runs on the middleware platform for the NetSphere architecture, called the NetSphere platform. Designed after the mechanism behind how the immune system produces specific antibodies against an antigen invasion, the proposed adaptation mechanism allows agents to autonomously monitor their surrounding environmental conditions (e.g. traffic volume and resource availability) and adaptively perform their behaviors (e.g. reproduction and migration) suitable for the current environmental conditions. The empirical evaluation shows that the proposed mechanism achieves autonomous adaptability of network applications and the NetSphere platform is efficient and reusable to host autonomous adaptive network applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antigen recognition by the adaptive cellular immune system is based on a diverse repertoire of antigen receptors. Since this repertoire is formed by genetic recombination, a number of receptors are autoreactive by chance, giving rise to the threat of autoimmune disease. Potentially autoreactive T lymphocytes (T cells) are rendered ineffective by various tolerance mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is negative selection, the deletion from the repertoire of immature autoreactive T cells in the thymus. The present paper shows how to assess the contribution made by negative selection relative to other tolerisation mechanisms by deducing the impact of negative selection on the T cell repertoire from the statistics of autoantigen presentation in the thymus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marchuk's model of a general immune reaction is presented in the paper. The results of investigation of the model are summarized. The qualitative behaviour of solutions to the model and its simplification is described. Many illustrations of recovery process, oscillations or lethal outcomes of a disease are shown. The model with time-dependent immune reactivity is also considered. Periodic dynamics caused by different reasons are compared. In the last section adaptation of the model to tumour-immune interactions is proposed. The role of interleukins in immune processes is taken into account to adapt Marchuk's model to tumour growth dynamics. Possible immunotherapy is also considered in the proposed model. Some preliminary analysis of the model is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper was to determine whether intrathymic injection of retinal S-antigen (S-Ag) can prevent experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) in Lewis rats. Lewis rats were injected intrathymically with 25-100 micrograms of S-Ag in 100 microliters split between thymic lobes. Controls received vehicle alone (PBS) or 100 micrograms of BSA. Animals were immunized two weeks later with 100 micrograms of S-Ag in CFA with or without pertussis toxin (0.5 micrograms/rat). Clinical ocular disease was confirmed by histopathology. Splenocytes and lymph node cells were assayed, in vitro, for their ability to proliferate in response to various concentrations of S-Ag. Furthermore, attempts were made to adoptively transfer protection to naive rats using spleen cells from intrathymically injected animals and to adoptively transfer EAU to protected rats using Con A activated cells from affected animals. Intrathymic injection of S-Ag reduced the incidence of EAU in animals subsequently immunized with S-Ag and pertussis, and prevented it entirely in rats immunized in the absence of pertussis. Splenic and lymph node cells from intrathymically injected animals showed reduced reactivity to S-Ag compared to controls, suggesting that intrathymic S-Ag injection may have rendered them tolerant to this antigen. We were unable to adoptively transfer protection to naive rats, nor were intrathymically injected rats protected from EAU induced by the adoptive transfer of primed lymph node cells. These data demonstrate that intrathymic S-Ag injection can be an effective method for protection from EAU, apparently through the induction of immunological tolerance and not active suppression. The tolerance was not absolute and could be overcome by increasing the intensity of the antigenic challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exocytosis is the process of fusion of a membrane-bound vesicle with the cell membrane and subsequent release of the vesicle content to the outside. It is now widely accepted that SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors) proteins are key components in the molecular machinery of exocytosis. SNARE proteins on the vesicle membrane selectively form complexes with specific SNAREs on the cell membrane. In a variant of exocytosis, called compound exocytosis, secretory vesicles still fuse with the cell membrane but vesicle-to-vesicle fusion enhances secretory output. Two types of compound exocytosis occur, either vesicles fuse with each other and then fuse with the cell membrane, or a vesicle fuses with the cell membrane and then becomes a target for further vesicles to fuse with it. It is expected that SNAREs are important for vesicle-to-vesicle fusion but the mechanism(s) that control these processes is unknown. In our recent paper (Behrendorff et al. 2011) we provide evidence that VAMP8 (a Q-SNARE) is essential in regulating compound exocytosis. Here we discuss the implications of our indings with reference to a new model for the control of vesicle-to-vesicle fusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CD34 is a cell surface glycoprotein expressed by hematopoietic progenitors and endothelial cells. It is widely used in the clinic for isolation of human hematopoietic stem cells. In recent years large animals are gaining increasing importance in biomedical research for the study and therapy of human diseases. Sheep has proved to be an useful experimental model for preclinical trials in transplantation procedures. Unfortunately, the lack of specie-specific monoclonal antibodies (MABS) recognizing hemopoietic progenitor cells hampers the use of this animal in experimental hematology. The aim of this paper was to determine whether commercial monoclonal antibodies specific for human CD34 molecule could cross-react with hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) present in sheep umbilical cord blood (UCB). Six antihuman CD34 MABS, recognizing the three different epitope classes, were tested in flow cytometry on purified mononuclear cells (MNC) isolated from cord blood of both species. None of the MABS used in this trial seemed to be able to identify HPC from sheep UCB. These data suggest that the panel of monoclonal antibodies used for cross reactivity detection has to be expanded with recently produced reagents. Further studies should be directed towards the production of ovine specific anti CD34 MABS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intracellular peptide pump TAP feeds antigenic peptides for loading onto HLA class I molecules, and its down-modulation is a frequent immune evasion mechanism in human cancers. Two recent papers describe which 'hidden' antigens we might exploit to target these escaped cancer variants by CD8 T cells. These unTAPped peptides are now ready for clinical testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features commentary on the paper by V. Jönsson and others, who suggest that pregnancy-related alloimmunization could contribute to the development of autoimmunity. Cautious interpretation is suggested, as the methodology adopted has certain limitations and findings are in conflict with published data. Further studies are recommended to prove that there are different mechanisms which could result in immune cytopenias and non-hematological autoimmune diseases in CLL.