Porcine Fc gammaRIII isoforms are generated by alternative splicing.

The Fc gammaRIII plays an essential role in antibody-mediating effector functions of immune cells. Here, we report that transcripts encoding porcine Fc gammaRIII isoforms are generated by alternative splicing. Fc gammaRIII a.

Immune defects in breast cancer patients after radiotherapy.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immune status of women with stage I-III breast cancer after receiving external beam radiotherapy (RT). Fourteen stage I-III, estrogen or progesterone receptor-positive or-negative (FER/PR +\-), postsurgical breast cancer patients undergoing a standard course of chemotherapy and radiation were studied. Complete blood counts (CBC) with differential, phagocytic activity, natural killer (NK) cell functional activity, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interferon-gamma cytokine activity were measured immediately before and for the six weeks following the completion of radiation therapy.

Disulphide-isomerase-enabled shedding of tumour-associated NKG2D ligands.

Tumour-associated ligands of the activating NKG2D (natural killer group 2, member D; also called KLRK1) receptor-which are induced by genotoxic or cellular stress-trigger activation of natural killer cells and co-stimulation of effector T cells, and may thus promote resistance to cancer. However, many progressing tumours in humans counter this anti-tumour activity by shedding the soluble major histocompatibility complex class-I-related ligand MICA, which induces internalization and degradation of NKG2D and stimulates population expansions of normally rare NKG2D+CD4+ T cells with negative regulatory functions. Here we show that on the surface of tumour cells, MICA associates with endoplasmic reticulum protein 5 (ERp5; also called PDIA6 or P5), which, similar to protein disulphide isomerase, usually assists in the folding of nascent proteins inside cells.

Molecular cloning and characterization of canine ICOS.

Inducible costimulatory receptor (ICOS) is one recently identified member of the CD28 family of costimulatory molecules. Evidence suggests ICOS functions as a critical immune regulator and, to evaluate these effects, we employed the canine model system that has been used to develop strategies currently in clinical use for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. To investigate the effects of blocking the ICOS pathway in the canine hematopoietic cell transplantation model, we tested existing murine and human reagents and cloned the full length of the open reading frame of canine ICOS cDNA to allow the development of reagents specific for the canine ICOS.

Thomsen-Friedenreich (T) antigen expression increases sensitivity of natural killer cell lysis of cancer cells.

In this study, we demonstrate a correlation between T antigen expression on a panel of human carcinoma cell lines and their sensitivity to porcine NK cell lysis. Specifically, the more T antigen is expressed, the more sensitive the cancer cells are to porcine NK cell lysis. Furthermore, this correlation also exists for these cells and their ability to induce tumors in vivo.

Molecular cloning, expression pattern and chromosomal mapping of pig CD69.

CD69 is a type II membrane protein belonging to C-type lectin family receptor, and expressed on activated leukocytes. Pig CD69 was cloned by RT-PCR using degenerate primers. Pig CD69 cDNA contains a 600 bp open reading frame with its predicted polypeptide sequence of 200 amino acids.