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As the sentinels of innate and adaptive immune system, dendritic cells (DCs) have been considered to hold a great promise for medical application. Among the diverse types of DCs, monocyte-derived DCs (mo-DCs) generated in vitro have been most commonly employed. We have been improving the culture protocol and devised a protocol to produce mature interferon-α-induced DCs (IFN-DCs), hereinafter called (mat)IFN-DCs. While exploring the relationship between the expression of CD56 and the cytotoxic activity of (mat)IFN-DCs, we unexpectedly found that sorting of (mat)IFN-DCs with CD56 antibody-coated microbeads (MB) resulted in fractionating cells with tumoricidal activity into the flow-through (FT) but not MB-bound fraction. We uncovered that the FT fraction contains cells expressing low but substantial level of CD56. Moreover, those cells express granzyme B (GrB), perforin (PFN), and serpin B9 at high levels. By employing a specific inhibitor of PFN, we confirmed that direct tumoricidal activity relies on the GrB/PFN pathway. We designated subpopulation in FT fraction as CD56dim and that in CD56 positively sorted fraction as CD56bright , respectively. This is the first time, to our knowledge, to identify subpopulations of CD56-positive IFN-DCs with distinct tumoricidal activity which is ascribed to high expression of the components of GrB/PFN pathway.

Aims/Introduction Little information is available regarding the status of insulin resistance (IR) and insulin deficiency (ID), as well as their relationship with obesity in children using the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) in a population-based setting. Materials and Methods The study included a total of 445 ninth-grade children participating in health check-up programs implemented in Tsunan Town, Niigata, Japan (boys/girls, 252/193 [participation rates: 98.1/95.5%]). HOMA of insulin resistance ≥2.5 was defined as IR, and HOMA of β-cell function

L-[4-l3C]Glutamic acid (1) and L-[4-13C]glutamine (2) were synthesized from sodium [2-13C]acetate (5) and Dellaria's oxazinone 3 as a chiral glycine equivalent. Sodium [2-13C]acetate (5) was converted to [2-13C]acrylate 4. Diastereoselective Michael addition of the enolate of 3 to the acrylate 4 proceeded with high diastereoselectivity to give the adduct 12. Reductive cleavage of the C–S bond, ethanolysis, hydrogenolysis and hydrolysis gave L-[4-13C]glutamic acid (1). L-[4-13C]Glutamine (2) was synthesized from 1 in 4 steps. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) plays an important role in metabolism of high-density lipoprotein and reverse cholesterol transport in humans. The two major classes of high-density lipoprotein particles are those containing apolipoprotein A-I (LpA-I) and those containing both apoA-I and apoA-II (LpA-I:A-II). We isolated and characterized the apoA-I-containing lipoprotein particles from three subjects with homozygous CETP deficiency (CETP-D) and compared the results with those from normolipidemic control subjects. Plasma concentrations of apoA-I in both LpA-I and LpA-I:A-II were significantly elevated in CETP-D subjects. Both LpA-I and LpA-I:A-II from these subjects were larger and contained more cholesteryl ester per particle than control particles. In CETP-D, subpopulations of LpA-I and LpA-I:A-II with an unusually large size (Stokes diameters 13.8 nm and 12.6 nm, respectively) not detected in normal subjects were isolated. The molar ratio of apoA-I to apoA-II in LpA-I:A-II isolated from CETP-D subjects was higher (mean 2.4) than those of controls (mean 1.4). ApoE was primarily associated with LpA-I:A-II in CETP-D subjects. A subclass of LpA-I with pre-beta migration on agarose electrophoresis was increased in CETP-D subjects. Both LpA-I and LpA-I:A-II from CETP-D subjects bound with higher affinity but less capacity to HepG2 cells compared with control particles, and were internalized to a lesser extent than control particles. These data suggest that the absence of CETP in humans significantly affects the plasma concentration, size, composition, and cellular interaction of both major classes of apoA-I-containing lipoprotein particles.

A TFT-LCD with RGB LED-Backlight has become well-known as wider color reproduction. By matching the transmissive spectra of color-filter to high-power red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs radiation, wider color reproduction and higher brightness have been achieved. But it has been difficult to mix the RGB light of high-power LEDs without a loss of light until the light is introduced into the LC-panel. We have developed a new LED-Backlight system that provides an optical efficiency of 72%. This efficiency is 1.4 times the previous LED-Backlight with a light guide. We applied this new LED-Backlight to a 22-in. XGA-Wide TFT-LCD and achieved a brightness of 540cd/m2 and color reproduction of 105%.