Opposing roles for interferon regulatory factor-3 (IRF-3) and type I interferon signaling during plague.

Type I interferons (IFN-I) broadly control innate immunity and are typically transcriptionally induced by Interferon Regulatory Factors (IRFs) following stimulation of pattern recognition receptors within the cytosol of host cells. For bacterial infection, IFN-I signaling can result in widely variant responses, in some cases contributing to the pathogenesis of disease while in others contributing to host defense. In this work, we addressed the role of type I IFN during Yersinia pestis infection in a murine model of septicemic plague.

Evaluation of lomustine as a rescue agent for cats with resistant lymphoma.

This retrospective study evaluated the use of lomustine as a rescue agent for 39 cases of resistant feline lymphoma. Parameters assessed included lymphocyte cell size, number of previous chemotherapy drugs and number of previous chemotherapy protocols received, time from lymphoma diagnosis to initiation of lomustine therapy, body weight and anatomic location of lymphoma. Cell size, number of previous chemotherapy drugs, number of previous chemotherapy protocols and anatomic location were all significant prognostic factors for the progression-free interval.