The modulating effect of food composition on the immune system in growing ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus).

The decline in the population of ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) in northwestern Germany since 2007 raises questions about the underlying causes. We therefore studied the growth and immune status of ring-necked pheasant chicks dependent on different feed composition. Here, 490 ring-necked pheasant chicks were raised in five groups up to nine weeks.

How Structured Metadata Acquisition Contributes to the Reproducibility of Nanosafety Studies: Evaluation by a Round-Robin Test.

It has been widely recognized that nanosafety studies are limited in reproducibility, caused by missing or inadequate information and data gaps. Reliable and comprehensive studies should be performed supported by standards or guidelines, which need to be harmonized and usable for the multidisciplinary field of nanosafety research. The previously described minimal information table (MIT), based on existing standards or guidelines, represents one approach towards harmonization.

Increased replication stress and R-loop accumulation in EGFRvIII-expressing glioblastoma present new therapeutic opportunities.

Background: The oncogene epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) is expressed in approximately one-third of all glioblastomas (GBMs). So far it is not clear if EGFRvIII expression induces replication stress in GBM cells, which might serve as a therapeutical target.

Methods: Isogenetic EGFRvIII- and EGFRvIII+ cell lines with endogenous EGFRvIII expression were used.

CRISPitope: A generic platform to model target antigens for adoptive T cell transfer therapy in mouse tumor models.

This protocol details the procedure for CRISPR-assisted insertion of epitopes (CRISPitope), a flexible approach for generating tumor cells expressing model CD8 T cell epitopes fused to endogenously encoded gene products of choice. CRISPitope-engineered tumor cells can be recognized by T cell receptor-transgenic (TCRtg) CD8 T cells that are widely used in immunology research. Using mice inoculated with CRISPitope-engineered tumor cells, researchers can investigate how the choice of the target antigen for T cell immunotherapies influences treatment efficacy and resistance mechanisms.