Autoantigen-specific protection of non-obese diabetic mice from cyclophosphamide-accelerated diabetes by vaccination with dendritic cells.

Aims/hypothesis: Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen presenting cells involved in the initiation of primary immune responses and the preservation of peripheral tolerance. The aim of this study was to develop a DC vaccine for autoantigen-specific prevention of autoimmune diabetes.

Methods: Splenocytes from diabetes-prone NOD mice were cultured in conditioned media to obtain a homogeneous DC sub-population for vaccination experiments.

Calcitonin-specific antitumor immunity in medullary thyroid carcinoma following dendritic cell vaccination.

In this study, we investigated the immune response following immunotherapy with calcitonin-pulsed dendritic cells (DC) in 7 patients with metastasized medullary thyroid carcinoma. After immunization with 1-5 x 10(6) autologous DC, significant calcitonin-specific T cell proliferation was detectable in 3 patients. Measurement of cytokine release from T lymphocytes demonstrated high post-treatment interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) secretion after stimulation with calcitonin in 5 patients, one of whom experienced significant tumor regression.

Hypnotic hypo- and hyperalgesia: divergent effects on pain ratings and pain-related cerebral potentials.

Pain ratings and pain-related cerebral potentials in response to noxious stimuli were investigated under hypnotic hypo- or hyperalgesia. Out of a sample of 50 subjects the 10 most highly hypnotizable were selected using the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. Phasic pain was induced by brief electrical stimuli intracutaneously applied to the subject's left middle finger.