Further improvements of the P. falciparum humanized mouse model.

Background: It has been shown previously that it is possible to obtain growth of Plasmodium falciparum in human erythrocytes grafted in mice lacking adaptive immune responses by controlling, to a certain extent, innate defences with liposomes containing clodronate (clo-lip). However, the reproducibility of those models is limited, with only a proportion of animals supporting longstanding parasitemia, due to strong inflammation induced by P. falciparum.

The expression and function of cathepsin E in dendritic cells.

Cathepsin E is an aspartic proteinase that has been implicated in Ag processing within the class II MHC pathway. In this study, we document the presence of cathepsin E message and protein in human myeloid dendritic cells, the preeminent APCs of the immune system. Cathepsin E is found in a perinuclear compartment, which is likely to form part of the endoplasmic reticulum, and also a peripheral compartment just beneath the cell membrane, with a similar distribution to that of Texas Red-dextran within 2 min of endocytosis.

Extension, retraction and contraction in the formation of a dendritic cell dendrite: distinct roles for Rho GTPases.

The morphology of antigen-presenting dendritic cells (DC) is characterized by the possession of numerous long arborizing processes known as dendrites. The formation of these processes by DC, both in the periphery and in lymphoid organs, is believed to contribute to the remarkable efficiency with which they take up, process and present antigen to T cells. However, the process of dendrite formation and the signaling pathways that lead to the formation of these dendrites remain obscure.