11C-Methionine-PET: a novel and sensitive tool for monitoring of early response to treatment in multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains an essentially incurable hematologic malignancy. However, new treatment modalities and novel drugs have been introduced and thus additional tools for therapy monitoring are increasingly needed. Therefore, we evaluated the radiotracers 11C-Methionine (paraprotein-biosynthesis) and 18F-FDG (glucose-utilization) for monitoring response to anti-myeloma-therapy and outcome prediction.

Seminal plasma protects human spermatozoa and pathogenic yeasts from capture by dendritic cells.

Background: During the process of fertilization, human spermatozoa are confronted with phagocytic cells of the female reproductive tract. Part of this host mucosal barrier are immature dendritic cells (DCs), which play an important role in the defense of invading microbial pathogens. In the present study, we investigated the potential interaction of spermatozoa with DCs and raised the question of whether seminal plasma impacts the interaction of DCs with spermatozoa or pathogenic microbes.

Wasp venom immunotherapy induces activation and homing of CD4(+)CD25(+) forkhead box protein 3-positive regulatory T cells controlling T(H)1 responses.

Background: Despite a growing interest in CD4(+)CD25(+) forkhead box protein 3 (Foxp3)-positive regulatory T (Treg) cells, the fundamental parameters of the activation and homing of these cells during wasp venom immunotherapy (VIT) are largely unknown.

Objective: We investigated longitudinally the phenotype and function of Treg cells in a well-characterized homogeneous group of patients with wasp venom allergy during VIT.

Methods: In 30 patients peripheral Treg cells were ex vivo monitored for their activation status and homing capacities by means of flow cytometric analysis before and after 1 and 6 months of VIT.

The streptococcal lipoprotein rotamase A (SlrA) is a functional peptidyl-prolyl isomerase involved in pneumococcal colonization.

Streptococcus pneumoniae expresses two surface-exposed lipoproteins, PpmA and SlrA, which share homology with distinct families of peptidyl-prolyl isomerases (PPIases). In this study, we demonstrated for the first time that the lipoprotein cyclophilin, SlrA, can catalyze the cis-trans isomerization of proline containing tetrapeptides and that SlrA contributes to pneumococcal colonization. The substrate specificity of SlrA is typical for prokaryotic and eukaryotic cyclophilins, with Suc-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide (pNA) being the most rapidly catalyzed substrate.