Endotoxin hyperresponsiveness upon CD4+ T cell reconstitution in lymphopenic mice: control by natural regulatory T cells.

Natural CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells (nTreg) have been shown to control graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Herein, we considered the possibility that the beneficial action of nTreg upon immune reconstitution in lymphopenic hosts involves dampening of the inflammatory response induced by bacterial products. We first observed that transfer of syngeneic CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells in RAG-deficient mice dramatically enhanced release of inflammatory cytokines and associated pathology upon endotoxin injection.

Does c-erbB-2 play a role in the first steps of lung carcinogenesis?

Background: The 1999 WHO/IASLC histological classification of preneoplastic bronchial lesions has been shown to be reproducible, but little is known about its biological significance. The EGFR expression rate increases from normal epithelium to carcinoma in situ (CIS) with a significant difference between mild versus severe dysplasia. C-erbB-2, another member of the erbB family, is overexpressed in lung carcinomas, suggesting that this mechanism may play a role in carcinogenesis.

Is there a relationship between c-erbB-1 and c-erbB-2 amplification and protein overexpression in NSCLC?

In order to analyse the genetic abnormalities and protein expression of c-erbB-1 and -2, we have performed fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in resected non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). By IHC (106 patients), 11% of the patients were positive both for c-erbB-1 and -2 protein expression and 47% negative for both proteins. FISH (69 patients) showed a balanced disomy for both c-erbB-1 and -2 in 38%, all other cases had genetic abnormalities in at least one of both genes.

Correlation of different markers (p53, EGF-R, c-erbB-2, Ki-67) expression in the diagnostic biopsies and the corresponding resected tumors in non-small cell lung cancer.

Substaging using molecular markers has been proposed to try to identify prognostic factors allowing to define groups of patients with lung cancer for whom specific therapy might be of benefit. The pre-operative assessment of these markers seems to be important specially in case of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The aim of our study was to compare the expression of two potential prognostic factors (p53 and Ki-67) and two potential therapeutic targets (EGF-R and c-erbB-2) assessed on biopsy samples (B) of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with that of the corresponding resected tumor (RT).