Tryptic Shaving of Unveils Immunodominant Epitopes on the Bacterial Cell Surface.

The opportunistic pathogen has become a major threat for human health and well-being by developing resistance to antibiotics and by fast evolution into new lineages that rapidly spread within the healthy human population. This calls for development of active or passive immunization strategies to prevent or treat acute phase infections. Since no such anti-staphylococcal immunization approaches are available for clinical implementation, the present studies were aimed at identifying new leads for their development.

A human monoclonal antibody that specifically binds and inhibits the staphylococcal complement inhibitor protein SCIN.

Staphylococcus aureus is a serious public health burden causing a wide variety of infections. Earlier detection of such infections could result in faster and more directed therapies that also prevent resistance development. Human monoclonal antibodies (humAbs) are promising tools for diagnosis and therapy owing to their relatively straightforward synthesis, long history of safe clinical use and high target specificity.

A human monoclonal antibody targeting the conserved staphylococcal antigen IsaA protects mice against Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.

Due to substantial therapy failure and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains, alternatives for antibiotic treatment of S. aureus infections are urgently needed. Passive immunization using S.

Surface shaving as a versatile tool to profile global interactions between human serum proteins and the Staphylococcus aureus cell surface.

The human commensal bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is renowned as a causative agent of severe invasive diseases. Upon entering the bloodstream, S. aureus can infect almost every tissue and organ system in the human body.

Strongly enhanced IL-10 production using stable galectin-1 homodimers.

Galectin-1 is the homodimeric form of a protein, which is present in a dynamic equilibrium with the beta-galactoside monomeric form and has potent anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating effects. These favorable effects are probably related to the induction of apoptosis in activated T cells and the induction of IL-10, which have been demonstrated to be characteristic for the dimeric form of the protein. Based on these findings it can be speculated that the in vivo effects of galectin-1 can be improved by the generation of stable galectin-1 homodimers (dGal).

Human-derived, plant-produced monoclonal antibody for the treatment of anthrax.

The unpredictable nature of bio-terrorism compels us to develop medical countermeasures that will enable authorities to treat individuals exposed to agents such as anthrax. We report the feasibility of producing a protective, human-derived, monoclonal antibody directed against the protective antigen (PA) of Bacillus anthracis in plants. This was achieved by transient expression using agroinfiltration of Nicotiana benthamiana plants.

The role of B cell-mediated T cell costimulation in the efficacy of the T cell retargeting bispecific antibody BIS20x3.

In this study, we investigated the role of the naturally occurring B cell-mediated T cell costimulation in the antitumor efficacy of the bispecific Ab BIS20x3. BIS20x3 has a dual specificity for both CD20 and CD3 and has previously been shown to effectively direct the lytic potential of cytolytic T cells toward malignant, CD20(+) B cells. BIS20x3 instigated T cell-B cell interaction caused a dose-dependent activation of T cells that was 30 times stronger when compared with T cell activation induced by monovalent anti-CD3 Abs.

Temporary, but essential requirement of CD8+ T cells early in the pathogenesis of diabetes in BB rats as revealed by thymectomy and CD8 depletion.

Autoimmunity-prone BB rats demonstrate a T lymphocytopenia and abnormal T cell subset distribution. To test whether the life span of all T cells or only of certain subsets is reduced in BB rats, we thymectomised 8-week-old BB and PVG rats and subsequently assessed size and composition of the T cell population over a 6-week-period. In both strains, thymectomy (Tx) was followed by a decrease in peripheral T cell numbers, which was proportionally larger in BB rats.

Short-term dietary adjustment with a hydrolyzed casein-based diet postpones diabetes development in the diabetes-prone BB rat.

From earlier studies it appears that weaning associated changes in the animal's physiology and that of the pancreas in particular, render diabetes-prone Bio-Breeding (DP-BB) rats susceptible to the induction and development of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). In this study we tested whether a short-term dietary adjustment at weaning would influence the development of diabetes later in life. For this purpose a diet in which the protein source was replaced with hydrolyzed casein (HC) was given to the rats from weaning to 60 days of age and from weaning to 130 days of age.

Timing of pentoxifylline treatment determines its protective effect on diabetes development in the Bio Breeding rat.

Diabetes-prone Bio Breeding (DP-BB) rats spontaneously develop diabetes between 60 and 120 days of age. Diabetes-resistant (DR)-BB rats can be induced to develop diabetes by poly(I:C) and anti-RT6. Here, we studied the effect of pentoxifylline, a potent anti-inflammatory agent, on diabetes development in both BB rat models of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and investigated whether these effects were related to differential modulation of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin-10.