α-Synuclein orchestrates Th17 responses as antigen and adjuvant in Parkinson's disease.

Recently, the role of T cells in the pathology of α-synuclein (αS)-mediated neurodegenerative disorders called synucleinopathies, including Parkinson's disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy, has attracted increasing attention. Although the existence of αS-specific T cells and the immunogenicity of the post-translationally modified αS fragment have been reported in PD and DLB, the key cellular subset associated with disease progression and its induction mechanism remain largely unknown.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from synucleinopathy patients and healthy controls were cultured in the presence of the αS peptide pools.

Discrepancy Between Clinical Diagnosis and Whole-exome Sequencing-based Clonality Analysis of Synchronous Multiple Oral Cancers.

Background/aim: The definition of multiple oral cancers is based on the distances between the tumors. However, it is not possible to accurately predict tumor origins based only on clinical criteria.

Patients And Methods: We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) to analyze the genetic alterations in five tumors of two patients who underwent surgery in our hospital.

Point mutation bias in SARS-CoV-2 variants results in increased ability to stimulate inflammatory responses.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection induces severe pneumonia and is the cause of a worldwide pandemic. Coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, have RNA proofreading enzymes in their genomes, resulting in fewer gene mutations than other RNA viruses. Nevertheless, variants of SARS-CoV-2 exist and may induce different symptoms; however, the factors and the impacts of these mutations are not well understood.