Prophylactic vaccination targeting ERBB3 decreases polyp burden in a mouse model of human colorectal cancer.

Prophylactic vaccination is typically utilized for the prevention of communicable diseases such as measles and influenza but, with the exception of vaccines to prevent cervical cancer, is not widely used as a means of preventing or reducing the incidence of cancer. Here, we utilize a peptide-based immunotherapeutic approach targeting ERBB3, a pseudo-kinase member of the EGFR/ERBB family of receptor tyrosine kinases, as a means of preventing occurrence of colon polyps. Administration of the peptide resulted in a significant decrease in the development of intestinal polyps in C57BL/6J- mice, a model of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).

Identification of a novel polymorphism in X-linked sterol-4-alpha-carboxylate 3-dehydrogenase (Nsdhl) associated with reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in I/LnJ mice.

Loci controlling plasma lipid concentrations were identified by performing a quantitative trait locus analysis on genotypes from 233 mice from a F2 cross between KK/HlJ and I/LnJ, two strains known to differ in their high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. When fed a standard diet, HDL cholesterol concentration was affected by two significant loci, the Apoa2 locus on Chromosome (Chr) 1 and a novel locus on Chr X, along with one suggestive locus on Chr 6. Non-HDL concentration also was affected by loci on Chr 1 and X along with a suggestive locus on Chr 3.

Antibodies with dual reactivity to plasminogen and complementary PR3 in PR3-ANCA vasculitis.

Patients with inflammatory vascular disease caused by anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) can harbor antibodies not only to the autoantigen proteinase 3 (PR3) but also to complementary PR3 (cPR3(105-201)), a recombinant protein translated from the antisense strand of PR3 cDNA. The purpose of this study was to identify potential endogenous targets of anti-cPR3(105-201) antibodies. Patients' plasmapheresis material was tested for the presence of antigens reactive with affinity-purified rabbit and chicken anti-cPR3(105-201) polyclonal antibodies.

ANCA patients have T cells responsive to complementary PR-3 antigen.

Some patients with proteinase 3 specific anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (PR3-ANCA) also have antibodies that react to complementary-PR3 (cPR3), a protein encoded by the antisense RNA of the PR3 gene. To study whether patients with anti-cPR3 antibodies have cPR3-responsive memory T cells we selected conditions that allowed cultivation of memory cells but not naïve cells. About half of the patients were found to have CD4+TH1 memory cells responsive to the cPR3(138-169)-peptide; while only a third of the patients had HI-PR3 protein responsive T cells.