Integrative Analysis of Cell Crosstalk within Follicular Lymphoma Cell Niche: Towards a Definition of the FL Supportive Synapse.

Follicular lymphoma (FL), the most frequent indolent non-Hodgkin's B cell lymphoma, is considered as a prototypical centrocyte-derived lymphoma, dependent on a specific microenvironment mimicking the normal germinal center (GC). In agreement, several FL genetic alterations affect the crosstalk between malignant B cells and surrounding cells, including stromal cells and follicular helper T cells (Tfh). In our study, we sought to deconvolute this complex FL supportive synapse by comparing the transcriptomic profiles of GC B cells, Tfh, and stromal cells, isolated from normal versus FL tissues, in order to identify tumor-specific pathways.

Natural killer cell IFN-gamma levels predict long-term survival with imatinib mesylate therapy in gastrointestinal stromal tumor-bearing patients.

Clinical outcomes of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)-bearing patients treated with imatinib mesylate (IM) are variable. Other than the site of mutation within the c-kit gene, prognostic features of GIST remain undefined. IM can exhibit off-target effects such as triggering natural killer (NK) cell activity.

Selective modulation of CD4+ T cells from lupus patients by a promiscuous, protective peptide analog.

A peptide encompassing residues 131-151 of the spliceosomal U1-70K protein and its analog phosphorylated at Ser140 were synthesized as potential candidates for the treatment of patients with lupus. Studies in the MRL/lpr and (NZB x NZW)F1 lupus models have demonstrated that these sequences contain a CD4+ T cell epitope but administration of the phosphorylated peptide only ameliorates the clinical manifestations of treated MRL/lpr mice. Binding assays with soluble HLA class II molecules and molecular modeling experiments indicate that both peptides behave as promiscuous epitopes and bind to a large panel of human DR molecules.

HLA-DP4, the most frequent HLA II molecule, defines a new supertype of peptide-binding specificity.

Among HLA-DP specificities, HLA-DP4 specificity involves at least two molecules, HLA-DPA1*0103/DPB1*0401 (DP401) and HLA-DPA1*0103/DPB1*0402 (DP402), which differ from each other by only three residues. Together, they are present worldwide at an allelic frequency of 20-60% and are the most abundant human HLA II alleles. Strikingly, the peptide-binding specificities of these molecules have never been investigated.