Immunomodulation of Chinese Herbal Medicines on NK cell populations for cancer therapy: A systematic review.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Immunomodulation has become a crucial modality for cancer treatment. Chinese Herbal Medicines (CHMs) are expected as adjuvant therapy for immunomodulation against cancer, but face the key challenge of poor scientific evidence. Changes of natural killer (NK) cells on numbers and/or cytotoxicity are a novel respect to evaluate the immunomodulation of CHMs.

What Are the Primary Limitations in B-Cell Affinity Maturation, and How Much Affinity Maturation Can We Drive with Vaccination? A Role for Antibody Feedback.

We discuss the impact of antibody feedback on affinity maturation of B cells. Competition from epitope-specific antibodies produced earlier during the immune response leads to immune complex formation, which is essential for transport and deposition of antigen onto follicular dendritic cells (FDCs). It also reduces the concentration of free epitopes into the μm to nm range, which is essential for B-cell receptors (BCRs) to sense affinity-dependent changes in binding capacity.

Anthropometric profile of Hong Kong children and adolescents: the Wellness Population of Youth Study.

Childhood obesity has been a public health concern increasingly. We investigated the age- and sex-specific body mass index (BMI), blood pressure level, and other obesity measures in Hong Kong children and adolescents. We used the data from Wellness Population of Youth Study, a health examination for anthropometric measurements among children and adolescents (aged 9-15 years) in Hong Kong, conducted in Oct 2012-Jun 2013 (n = 4410).

An Ensemble Approach for Record Matching in Data Linkage.

Objectives: To develop and test an optimal ensemble configuration of two complementary probabilistic data matching techniques namely Fellegi-Sunter (FS) and Jaro-Wrinkler (JW) with the goal of improving record matching accuracy.

Methods: Experiments and comparative analyses were carried out to compare matching performance amongst the ensemble configurations combining FS and JW against the two techniques independently.

Results: Our results show that an improvement can be achieved when FS technique is applied to the remaining unsure and unmatched records after the JW technique has been applied.

Mining Symptom-Herb Patterns from Patient Records Using Tripartite Graph.

Unlike the western medical approach where a drug is prescribed against specific symptoms of patients, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment has a unique step, which is called syndrome differentiation (SD). It is argued that SD is considered as patient classification because prior to the selection of the most appropriate formula from a set of relevant formulae for personalization, a practitioner has to label a patient belonging to a particular class (syndrome) first. Hence, to detect the patterns between herbs and symptoms via syndrome is a challenging problem; finding these patterns can help prepare a prescription that contributes to the efficacy of a treatment.

An ethnopharmacological approach to the preliminary screening of native Australian herbal medicines for anticancer activity.

Background: Five plants used traditionally by Australian Aboriginals and two edible native Australian fruits have been investigated for anticancer activity. The aim was to identify native Australian herbal medicines which displayed anticancer activity, with cytotoxicity to cancer cells but sparing or even proliferating normal immunological cells, and subsequently provide potentially new anticancer drug leads.

Methods: Extracts and derived fractions were assayed for cell viability against a multiple myeloma cell line, RPMI-8226, in comparison to the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) representing normal human immunological cells.

Immunomodulatory activities of Ganoderma sinense polysaccharides in human immune cells.

Medicinal mushrooms have been traditionally used as food nutrient supplements in China for thousands of years. The present study aimed to evaluate the immunomodulatory activities of Ganoderma sinense (GS), an allied species of G. lucidum, using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).

MicroRNAs Involved in Anti-Tumour Immunity.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a category of small RNAs that constitute a new layer of complexity to gene regulation within the cell, which has provided new perspectives in understanding cancer biology. The deregulation of miRNAs contributes critically to the development and pathophysiology of a number of cancers. miRNAs have been found to participate in cell transformation and multiplication by acting as tumour oncogenes or suppressors; therefore, harnessing miRNAs may provide promising cancer therapeutics.

Investigation of the biosynthetic potential of endophytes in traditional Chinese anticancer herbs.

Traditional Chinese medicine encompasses a rich empirical knowledge of the use of plants for the treatment of disease. In addition, the microorganisms associated with medicinal plants are also of interest as the producers of the compounds responsible for the observed plant bioactivity. The present study has pioneered the use of genetic screening to assess the potential of endophytes to synthesize bioactive compounds, as indicated by the presence of non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) and polyketide synthase (PKS) genes.

Potential antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and proapoptotic anticancer activities of Kakadu plum and Illawarra plum polyphenolic fractions.

Kakadu plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana Exell, Combretaceae) and Illawarra plum (Podocarpus elatus Endl., Podocarpaceae) extracts were fractionated, using a bioassay-guided approach and screened for antioxidant activity [oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) assays] and antiinflammatory activity (nitrite concentration and prostaglandin E(2) release in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated murine macrophages). Among 8 fractions obtained from KP and 5 fractions obtained from IP, fraction KPF5 from KP exhibited superior activity in all assays, with an ORAC value of 3,776 ± 603 μmol Trolox/g DW and a CAA value of 52.

Molecular pathways for cancer chemoprevention by dietary phytochemicals.

Interest in dietary phytochemicals for potential cancer chemoprevention has increased substantially. Screening dietary compounds for chemopreventive activity however, requires a systematic and wide-ranging approach to encompass the complexity of carcinogenesis. We present some of the molecular pathways that underpin the broad biological processes involved in carcinogenesis.

Native Australian fruit polyphenols inhibit cell viability and induce apoptosis in human cancer cell lines.

Apoptosis is one of the most critical forms of defense against cancer, and the induction of apoptosis by dietary polyphenols represents significant potential for cancer preventive activity. The present study examined polyphenols extracted from selected native Australian fruits--Illawarra plum (Podocarpus elatus Endl., Podocarpaceae), Kakadu plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana Exell, Combretaceae), muntries (Kunzea pomifera F.

Towards the discovery of novel phytochemicals for disease prevention from native Australian plants: an ethnobotanical approach.

Investigation into phytochemicals from foods for disease prevention has increased substantially in the last few decades. However, a clear strategy on the selection of the most promising foods for research has been lacking. An ethnobotanical approach represents an effective method which may improve the outcomes of phytochemical research.

Clonal expansions of cytotoxic T cells exist in the blood of patients with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia but exhibit anergic properties and are eliminated by nucleoside analogue therapy.

T cells contribute to host-tumor interactions in patients with monoclonal gammopathies. Expansions of CD8(+)CD57(+) T-cell receptor Vbeta-positive (TCRVbeta(+))-restricted cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) clones are found in 48% of patients with multiple myeloma and confer a favorable prognosis. We now report that CTL clones with varying TCRVbeta repertoire are present in 70% of patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM; n = 20).

Development of Taxol and other endophyte produced anti-cancer agents.

Taxol is a powerful and complex anti-cancer compound that was first isolated from the bark of the Pacific yew Taxus brevifolia. Although it offered huge potential as an anti-cancer agent, it experienced a long development period, attributed to by its low availability from its traditional source. Research into alternate sources and methods of production for Taxol have been crucial in meeting with demand for the drug.

The use of thalidomide in myeloma therapy as an effective anticancer drug.

Thalidomide and its immunomodulatory derivatives have provided the most significant advance in the therapy of myeloma since the introduction of high dose chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplantation nearly 20 years ago. The mechanism of action of thalidomide is complex and involves many aspects of malignant plasma cell growth and bone marrow stromal cell microenvironment interaction. Thalidomide was first used because of its anti-angiogenic properties, however it is the immunomodulatory actions that involve increasing host tumour-specific immunosurveillance by both T cell and natural killer cells which may be the most important mode of action.

Clonality detection of expanded T-cell populations in patients with multiple myeloma.

Expanded T-cell clones in the peripheral blood of patients with multiple myeloma and smoldering myeloma are usually CD8 positive and persist over long periods, suggesting that they are the result of chronic antigenic stimulation. The presence of enlarged T-cell clones can be demonstrated as bands other than the germ-line bands on Southern blots probed for the T-cell receptor beta gene (Vbeta), or defined by anti-TCRVbeta monoclonal antibody staining. However, the most sensitive way to demonstrate clonality within a population of T-cells is by analysis of the length of complementarity-determining region 3 of the rearranged TCR gene, followed by sequencing.

Clonal cytotoxic T cells in myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant disease characterized by accumulation of morphologically recognizable plasma cells producing immunoglobulin (Ig) in the bone marrow. The occurrence of clonal T cells in MM, as defined by the presence of rearrangements in the T-cell receptor (TCR)-beta chains detected on Southern blotting, is associated with an improved prognosis. This review aims to describe the various ways in which we have demonstrated the presence of such T cell clones, and to describe the phenotype of these cells.

Extrafollicular antibody responses.

In adaptive antibody responses, B cells are induced to grow either in follicles where they form germinal centers or in extrafollicular foci as plasmablasts. Extrafollicular growth typically occurs in the medullary cords of lymph nodes and in foci in the red pulp of the spleen. It is not a feature of secondary lymphoid tissue associated with the internal epithelia of the body.

Recirculating and germinal center B cells differentiate into cells responsive to polysaccharide antigens.

Antibodies against bacterial capsular polysaccharides play a critical protective role. Responses to these antigens can occur without the help or control of T cells and are associated with marginal zone (MZ) B cells. Capsular antigens are diverse and some cross-react with self-carbohydrate epitopes.

Experimental models linking dendritic cell lineage, phenotype and function.

One of the important issues in dendritic cell (DC) biology today is how DC control the fate of T cells. Our data suggest that an important branch point in determining T cell fate is the decision between deletion and memory. We have previously hypothesized that this binary decision is determined by contact with DC derived from lymphoid- versus myeloid-restricted progenitors.

Low-level hypermutation in T cell-independent germinal centers compared with high mutation rates associated with T cell-dependent germinal centers.

Exceptionally germinal center formation can be induced without T cell help by polysaccharide-based antigens, but these germinal centers involute by massive B cell apoptosis at the time centrocyte selection starts. This study investigates whether B cells in germinal centers induced by the T cell-independent antigen (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl (NP) conjugated to Ficoll undergo hypermutation in their immunoglobulin V region genes. Positive controls are provided by comparing germinal centers at the same stage of development in carrier-primed mice immunized with a T cell-dependent antigen: NP protein conjugate.