The diabetic antigen glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD 65) in the human peripheral blood.

Background: Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD 65) is a diabetes-associated antigen which is generally considered to be strictly intracellular. In order to better understand autoimmunity, this study demonstrates the appearance of GAD 65 in the peripheral human blood and presents implications for the diagnosis and therapy of some autoimmune diseases.

Methods: The GAD 65 molecules are detected by their interaction with monoclonal antibodies labeled with dyes in an experimental setup with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS).

Modulation of dendritic cell differentiation by HLA-G and ILT4 requires the IL-6--STAT3 signaling pathway.

The expression of Ig-like transcript (ILT) inhibitory receptors is a characteristic of tolerogenic dendritic cells (DCs). However, the mechanisms of modulation of DCs via ILT receptors remain poorly defined. HLA-G is a preferential ligand for several ILTs.

A vaccine strategy against AIDS: an HIV gp41 peptide immunization prevents NKp44L expression and CD4+ T cell depletion in SHIV-infected macaques.

We previously showed that a gp41 peptide (3S) induces expression of a natural killer (NK) ligand (NKp44L) on CD4+ T cells during HIV-1 infection and that those cells are highly sensitive to NK lysis. In HIV-infected patients, anti-3S antibodies are associated with the maintenance of CD4+ T cell counts close to their baseline values, and CD4+ T cells decrease with the antibody titer. This study sought to determine whether anti-3S immunization could prevent NKp44L expression on these CD4+ T cells in vivo and inhibits the subsequent decline in CD4+ T cell counts by immunizing macaques with 3S and then infecting them with simian HIV(162P3).

Maternal traces of deep common ancestry and asymmetric gene flow between Pygmy hunter-gatherers and Bantu-speaking farmers.

Two groups of populations with completely different lifestyles-the Pygmy hunter-gatherers and the Bantu-speaking farmers-coexist in Central Africa. We investigated the origins of these two groups and the interactions between them, by analyzing mtDNA variation in 1,404 individuals from 20 farming populations and 9 Pygmy populations from Central Africa, with the aim of shedding light on one of the most fascinating cultural transitions in human evolution (the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture). Our data indicate that this region was colonized gradually, with an initial L1c-rich ancestral population ultimately giving rise to current-day farmers, who display various L1c clades, and to Pygmies, in whom L1c1a is the only surviving clade.

Potential targets of FOXL2, a transcription factor involved in craniofacial and follicular development, identified by transcriptomics.

FOXL2 is a gene encoding a forkhead transcription factor, whose mutations are responsible for the blepharophimosis-ptosis-epicanthus inversus syndrome that often involves premature ovarian failure. FOXL2 is one of the earliest ovarian markers and it offers, along with its targets, an excellent model to study ovarian development and function in normal and pathological conditions. We have recently shown that the aromatase gene is a target of FOXL2, and only three other targets have been reported so far.