Ectonucleotidases CD39 and CD73 on OvCA cells are potent adenosine-generating enzymes responsible for adenosine receptor 2A-dependent suppression of T cell function and NK cell cytotoxicity.

The ectonucleotidases CD39 and CD73 degrade immune stimulatory ATP to adenosine that inhibits T and NK cell responses via the A(2A) adenosine receptor (ADORA2A). This mechanism is used by regulatory T cells (T(reg)) that are associated with increased mortality in OvCA. Immunohistochemical staining of human OvCA tissue specimens revealed further aberrant expression of CD39 in 29/36 OvCA samples, whereas only 1/9 benign ovaries showed weak stromal CD39 expression.

A cell-based luciferase-dependent assay for the quantitative determination of free extracellular adenosine with paracrine signaling activity.

Extracellular adenosine exerts powerful paracrine effects on immune cells. Thus, adenosine signaling has to be strictly regulated. This is achieved by its rapid internalization or enzymatic degradation.

Reduced cortisol levels in cerebrospinal fluid and differential distribution of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases in multiple sclerosis: implications for lesion pathogenesis.

Relapses during multiple sclerosis (MS) are treated by administration of exogenous corticosteroids. However, little is known about the bioavailability of endogenous steroids in the central nervous system (CNS) of MS patients. We thus determined cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 34 MS patients, 28 patients with non-inflammatory neurological diseases (NIND) and 16 patients with other inflammatory neurological diseases (OIND).

Immunoselection of breast and ovarian cancer cells with trastuzumab and natural killer cells: selective escape of CD44high/CD24low/HER2low breast cancer stem cells.

Although trastuzumab (Herceptin) has substantially improved the overall survival of patients with mammary carcinomas, even initially well-responding tumors often become resistant. Because natural killer (NK) cell-mediated antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) is thought to contribute to the therapeutic effects of trastuzumab, we have established a cell culture system to select for ADCC-resistant SK-OV-3 ovarian cancer and MCF7 mammary carcinoma cells. Ovarian cancer cells down-regulated HER2 expression, resulting in a more resistant phenotype.

Breakdown of Landau theory in overdoped cuprates near the onset of superconductivity.

We use the functional renormalization group to analyze the temperature dependence of the quasiparticle scattering rates in the two-dimensional Hubbard model below half-filling. Using a band structure appropriate to overdoped Tl2Ba2CuO6+x we find a strongly angle-dependent term linearly dependent on temperature which derives from an increasing scattering vertex as the energy scale is lowered. This behavior agrees with recent experiments and confirms earlier conclusions on the origin of the breakdown of the Landau-Fermi liquid near the onset of superconductivity.