Decoding mutational hotspots in human disease through the gene modules governing thymic regulatory T cells.

Computational strategies to extract meaningful biological information from multiomics data are in great demand for effective clinical use, particularly in complex immune-mediated disorders. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are essential for immune homeostasis and self-tolerance, controlling inflammatory and autoimmune processes in many diseases with a multigenic basis. Here, we quantify the Transcription Factor (TF) differential occupancy landscape to uncover the Gene Regulatory Modules governing lineage-committed Tregs in the human thymus, and show that it can be used as a tool to prioritise variants in complex diseases.

Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 Levels are Associated with Brain Lesion and Persistent Venous Occlusion in Patients with Cerebral Venous Thrombosis.

Background:  Elucidating mechanisms of brain damage in cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) would be instrumental to develop targeted therapies and improve prognosis prediction. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), a gelatinase that degrades major components of the basal lamina, has been associated to blood-brain barrier disruption. We aimed to assess, in patients with CVT, the temporal change in serum concentrations of MMP-9 and its association with key imaging and clinical outcomes.

Monozygotic Twins Concordant for Common Variable Immunodeficiency: Strikingly Similar Clinical and Immune Profile Associated With a Polygenic Burden.

Monozygotic twins provide a unique opportunity to better understand complex genetic diseases and the relative contribution of heritable factors in shaping the immune system throughout life. Common Variable Immunodeficiency Disorders (CVID) are primary antibody defects displaying wide phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity, with monogenic transmission accounting for only a minority of the cases. Here, we report a pair of monozygotic twins concordant for CVID without a family history of primary immunodeficiency.

Follicular Helper T Cells Are Major Human Immunodeficiency Virus-2 Reservoirs and Support Productive Infection.

Follicular helper T cells (Tfh), CD4 lymphocytes critical for efficient antibody responses, have been shown to be key human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 reservoirs. Human immunodeficiency virus-2 infection represents a unique naturally occurring model for investigating Tfh role in HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome, given its slow rate of CD4 decline, low to undetectable viremia, and high neutralizing antibody titers throughout the disease course. In this study, we investigated, for the first time, Tfh susceptibility to HIV-2 infection by combining in vitro infection of tonsillar Tfh with the ex vivo study of circulating Tfh from HIV-2-infected patients.

[Live Vaccine in Children with DiGeorge/22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome].

Introduction: Children with DiGeorge syndrome/chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome might have a variable degree of immunodeficiency, which may limit the use of live vaccines. The aim of this study was to review the adverse effects of live vaccines and possible relation with immune status in patients with DiGeorge Syndrome/partial 22q11.

Defects in memory B-cell and plasma cell subsets expressing different immunoglobulin-subclasses in patients with CVID and immunoglobulin subclass deficiencies.

Background: Predominantly antibody deficiencies (PADs) are the most prevalent primary immunodeficiencies, but their B-cell defects and underlying genetic alterations remain largely unknown.

Objective: We investigated patients with PADs for the distribution of 41 blood B-cell and plasma cell (PC) subsets, including subsets defined by expression of distinct immunoglobulin heavy chain subclasses.

Methods: Blood samples from 139 patients with PADs, 61 patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), 68 patients with selective IgA deficiency (IgAdef), 10 patients with IgG subclass deficiency with IgA deficiency, and 223 age-matched control subjects were studied by using flow cytometry with EuroFlow immunoglobulin isotype staining.

Quantification of cell cycle kinetics by EdU (5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine)-coupled-fluorescence-intensity analysis.

We propose a novel single-deoxynucleoside-based assay that is easy to perform and provides accurate values for the absolute length (in units of time) of each of the cell cycle stages (G1, S and G2/M). This flow-cytometric assay takes advantage of the excellent stoichiometric properties of azide-fluorochrome detection of DNA substituted with 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU). We show that by pulsing cells with EdU for incremental periods of time maximal EdU-coupled fluorescence is reached when pulsing times match the length of S phase.

miRNA profiling of human naive CD4 T cells links miR-34c-5p to cell activation and HIV replication.

Cell activation is a vital step for T-cell memory/effector differentiation as well as for productive HIV infection. To identify novel regulators of this process, we used next-generation sequencing to profile changes in microRNA expression occurring in purified human naive CD4 T cells in response to TCR stimulation and/or HIV infection. Our results demonstrate, for the first time, the transcriptional up-regulation of miR-34c-5p in response to TCR stimulation in naive CD4 T cells.

Human naïve regulatory T-cells feature high steady-state turnover and are maintained by IL-7.

Naïve FoxP3-expressing regulatory T-cells (Tregs) are essential to control immune responses via continuous replenishment of the activated-Treg pool with thymus-committed suppressor cells. The mechanisms underlying naïve-Treg maintenance throughout life in face of the age-associated thymic involution remain unclear. We found that in adults thymectomized early in infancy the naïve-Treg pool is remarkably well preserved, in contrast to conventional naïve CD4 T-cells.

Adult B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells display decreased PTEN activity and constitutive hyperactivation of PI3K/Akt pathway despite high PTEN protein levels.

Adult B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia remains a major therapeutic challenge, requiring a better characterization of the molecular determinants underlying disease progression and resistance to treatment. Here, using a phospho-flow cytometry approach we show that adult diagnostic B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia specimens display PI3K/Akt pathway hyperactivation, irrespective of their BCR-ABL status and despite paradoxically high basal expression of PTEN, the major negative regulator of the pathway. Protein kinase CK2 is known to phosphorylate PTEN thereby driving PTEN protein stabilization and concomitant PTEN functional inactivation.

Foxp3 induction in human and murine thymus precedes the CD4+ CD8+ stage but requires early T-cell receptor expression.

The thymus generates a T-cell lineage dedicated to immune regulation, 'naturally occurring' regulatory T cells, best specified by the forkhead family transcription factor Foxp3. Here, we have conducted a parallel study in humans and mice where we have dissected the earliest stages of Foxp3 induction during thymocyte development. By analyzing a large collection of 21 human thymuses we show that Foxp3 can be consistently detected in CD4 immature single positive thymocytes that precede the CD4(+)CD8(+) (double positive, DP) stage.

IL-7 sustains CD31 expression in human naive CD4+ T cells and preferentially expands the CD31+ subset in a PI3K-dependent manner.

The CD31(+) subset of human naive CD4(+) T cells is thought to contain the population of cells that have recently emigrated from the thymus, while their CD31(-) counterparts have been proposed to originate from CD31(+) cells after homeostatic cell division. Naive T-cell maintenance is known to involve homeostatic cytokines such as interleukin-7 (IL-7). It remains to be investigated what role this cytokine has in the homeostasis of naive CD4(+) T-cell subsets defined by CD31 expression.