Glutathione peroxidase 4 and vitamin E control reticulocyte maturation, stress erythropoiesis and iron homeostasis.

Glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) is unique as it is the only enzyme that can prevent detrimental lipid peroxidation by reducing lipid peroxides to the respective alcohols thereby stabilizing oxidation products of unsaturated fatty acids. During reticulocyte maturation, lipid peroxidation mediated by 15-lipoxygenase in humans and rabbits and by 12/15-lipoxygenase (ALOX15) in mice was considered the initiating event for the elimination of mitochondria but is now known to occur through mitophagy. Yet, genetic ablation of the gene in mice failed to provide evidence for this hypothesis.

The impact of chronic stress burden of 520-d isolation and confinement on the physiological response to subsequent acute stress challenge.

Collective evidence indicates that previous exposure to stressful condition might be able to induce changes in brain structure, HPA axis activity and related neurotransmission, and accordingly affect physiological responses to subsequent challenges. During long-term spaceflight, space travelers have to live under the condition of isolation and confinement in the spacecraft for a long period. It is still largely unknown if this kind of chronic stress burden can induce any long-lasting changes.

520-d Isolation and confinement simulating a flight to Mars reveals heightened immune responses and alterations of leukocyte phenotype.

During interplanetary exploration, chronic stress caused by long term isolation and confinement in the spacecraft is one of the major concerns of physical and psychological health of space travelers. And for human on Earth, more and more people live in an isolated condition, which has become a common social problem in modern western society. Collective evidences have indicated prolonged chronic stress could bring big influence to human immune function, which may lead to a variety of health problems.

Targeting high-grade B cell lymphoma with CD19-specific T cells.

Adoptive T cell therapy is an important additional treatment option for malignant diseases resistant to chemotherapy. Using a murine high-grade B cell lymphoma model, we have addressed the question whether the B cell differentiation antigen CD19 can act as rejection antigen. CD19(-/-) mice inoculated with CD19(+) B cell lymphoma cells showed higher survival rates than WT mice and were protected against additional tumor challenge.

Humanized c-Myc mouse.

Background: A given tumor is usually dependent on the oncogene that is activated in the respective tumor entity. This phenomenon called oncogene addiction provides the rationale for attempts to target oncogene products in a therapeutic manner, be it by small molecules, by small interfering RNAs (siRNA) or by antigen-specific T cells. As the proto-oncogene product is required also for the function of normal cells, this raises the question whether there is a therapeutic window between the adverse effects of specific inhibitors or T cells to normal tissue that may limit their application, and their beneficial tumor-specific therapeutic action.