Comparison of the CELLEX™ and UVAR-XTS™ closed-system extracorporeal photopheresis devices in the treatment of chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Extracorporeal Photopheresis (ECP) is a cellular immunotherapy frequently used for steroid-refractory graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Chronic GVHD (cGVHD), response to ECP is associated with survival benefit. The UVAR-XTS system and the more recently developed CELLEX device (both Therakos ) are the mainstay for ECP-delivery in the UK and US.

Regulatory T Cells in Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease After Extracorporeal Photopheresis: Correlation With Skin and Global Organ Responses, and Ability to Taper Steroids.

Background: Induction of immune tolerance by an increase in regulatory T (Treg) cells after extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is thought to contribute to how ECP exerts its therapeutic effect in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD). We investigated whether percentages and absolute counts of Treg cells changed post-ECP, and examined correlation with response.

Methods: Absolute counts and % of CD4+ T cells and Treg cells (CD4 + CD25 + FOXP3 + CD127dim/-) were evaluated using flow cytometry in 32 patients with cGvHD treated by ECP for a minimum of 3 months, and up to 12 months.

Yes we can!: prejudice reduction through seeing (inequality) and believing (in social change).

We investigated the effect of differential perceived efficacy to reduce racial inequality (in the context of increased awareness of illegitimate in-group advantages) on White Americans' intergroup attitudes and antidiscrimination behavior. White American university students read a passage describing the underrepresentation of African Americans in their university's faculty and then wrote letters to the university administration in support of appointing more African Americans to the faculty. We experimentally varied feedback concerning efficacy to change institutional racism.

Cleavage of chemokines CCL2 and CXCL10 by matrix metalloproteinases-2 and -9: implications for chemotaxis.

Proteolytic processing of chemokines is a complex process that can result in dramatic effects on their chemotactic activity. Results from gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry using recombinant CCL2 and CXCL10, incubated with either MMP-2 or -9, indicate that both chemokines are cleaved by the enzymes. N-terminal truncation of four amino acids from CCL2, and four or five residues from CXCL10 occurred, but removal of four residues from the C-terminus of CXCL10 was also observed with both MMPs.

Shifting attention into and out of objects: evaluating the processes underlying the object advantage.

Visual cuing studies have been widely used to demonstrate and explore contributions from both object- and location-based attention systems. A common finding has been a response advantage for shifts of attention occurring within an object, relative to shifts of an equal distance between objects. The present study examined this advantage for within-object shifts in terms of engage and disengage operations within the object- and location-based attention systems.