Developing dendritic cell polynucleotide vaccination for prostate cancer immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy has been successfully used to treat some human malignancies, principally melanoma and renal cell carcinoma. Genetic-based cancer immunotherapies were proposed which prime T lymphocyte recognition of unique neo-antigens arising from specific mutations. Genetic immunization (polynucleotide vaccination, DNA vaccines) is a process whereby gene therapy methods are used to create vaccines and immunotherapies.

Virus production and spontaneous cell proliferation in HTLV-I-infected lymphocytes.

Cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from HTLV-I-infected individuals proliferate in the absence of added mitogens and/or cytokines. In an attempt to answer questions regarding the activating signals for cells and virus, antibodies that react with cell surface components that are known to regulate cell activation and antibodies reacting with viral proteins were added to cultures of PBL from HTLV-I-infected, disease-free individuals. Spontaneous proliferation and virus production increased in the presence of antibodies reacting with CD3 and alpha/beta T cell receptors (TCR) while antibodies to HLA class II and viral proteins had no effect.

Immunoglobulin class and subclass antibodies to HIV proteins in maternal serum: association with perinatal transmission.

A flow cytometry-based assay for detection of immunoglobulin (Ig) class and subclass antibodies in human serum or plasma was developed. With use of this procedure, the presence and relative frequency of antibody activity in the Ig classes and subclasses (IgA1, IgA2, IgD, IgE, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, and IgM) to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) proteins (gp160, gp120, p66, and p24) was determined in serum or plasma from a cohort of 47 HIV-1-infected, pregnant women. Antibody activity in each of the classes and subclasses was found with differences in frequency depending on the Ig class/subclass and the HIV-1 protein.

Newly expressed progesterone receptor cannot activate stable, replicated mouse mammary tumor virus templates but acquires transactivation potential upon continuous expression.

During development and differentiation, the expression of transcription factors is regulated in a temporal fashion. Newly expressed transcription factors must interact productively with target genes organized in chromatin. Although the mechanisms governing factor binding to chromatin templates are not well understood, it is now clear that template access can be dramatically influenced by nucleoprotein structure.

Large granular lymphocytosis in a patient infected with HTLV-II.

HTLV-II has been associated with a variety of lymphoproliferative disorders, including atypical hairy cell leukemia, chronic T cell leukemia, T prolymphocytic leukemia, and large granular lymphocytic leukemia. However, a direct or indirect role for HTLV-II in these disorders is not yet firmly established. We studied a patient diagnosed as having leukemia of the large granular lymphocyte (LGL) type who was HTLV-II seropositive, to determine if the expanded cell population was infected.