Investigation of choroid plexus variability in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders-insights from a multimodal study.

Previous studies have suggested that choroid plexus (ChP) enlargement occurs in individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD) and is associated with peripheral inflammation. However, it is unclear whether such an enlargement delineates a biologically defined subgroup of SSD. Moreover, it remains elusive how ChP is linked to brain regions associated with peripheral inflammation in SSD.

ADIPOPHILIN PEPTIDE (ADPH 129-137) IS NOT A TARGET ANTIGEN FOR CD8 T-CELLS IN PATIENTS WITH OBESITY.

Context: In obesity, the infiltration of leukocytes into adipose tissue seems to play a key role in the development of inflammation and insulin resistance. Over-expression of adipophilin (ADPH) in adipose tissue, a protein which regulates lipid droplet structure and formation, has been reported in some studies.

Objective: To investigate the role of ADPH 129-137 as a target for CD8+ T-cells in PBMCs of patients with obesity.

Effects of add-on Celecoxib treatment on patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and inflammatory cytokine profile trial (TargetFlame): study design and methodology of a multicentre randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Neuroinflammation has been proposed to impact symptomatology in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. While previous studies have shown equivocal effects of treatments with add-on anti-inflammatory drugs such as Aspirin, N-acetylcysteine and Celecoxib, none have used a subset of prospectively recruited patients exhibiting an inflammatory profile. The aim of the study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety as well as the cost-effectiveness of a treatment with 400 mg Celecoxib added to an ongoing antipsychotic treatment in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders exhibiting an inflammatory profile.

A Single Dose of BNT162b2 Messenger RNA Vaccine Induces Airway Immunity in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Naive and Recovered Coronavirus Disease 2019 Subjects.

Background: Mucosal antibodies can prevent virus entry and replication in mucosal epithelial cells and therefore virus shedding. Parenteral booster injection of a vaccine against a mucosal pathogen promotes stronger mucosal immune responses following prior mucosal infection compared with injections of a parenteral vaccine in a mucosally naive subject. We investigated whether this was also the case for the BNT162b2 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) messenger RNA vaccine.

Immuno-metabolic profile of patients with psychotic disorders and metabolic syndrome. Results from the FACE-SZ cohort.

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a highly prevalent and harmful medical disorder often comorbid with psychosis where it can contribute to cardiovascular complications. As immune dysfunction is a key shared component of both MetS and schizophrenia (SZ), this study investigated the relationship between immune alterations and MetS in patients with SZ, whilst controlling the impact of confounding clinical characteristics including psychiatric symptoms and comorbidities, history of childhood maltreatment and psychotropic treatments.

Method: A total of 310 patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for SZ or schizoaffective disorders (SZA), with or without MetS, were systematically assessed and included in the FondaMental Advanced Centers of Expertise for Schizophrenia (FACE-SZ) cohort.

Low T Cell Responsiveness in the Early Phase of COVID-19 Associates with Progression to Severe Pneumonia in Kidney Transplant Recipients.

Kidney transplant (KT) recipients are at increased risk of developing severe forms of COVID-19. Little is known about the immunological mechanisms underlying disease severity in these patients receiving T-cell targeting immunosuppressive drugs. We investigated the relationship between T cell responsiveness at the beginning of the infection and the risk of subsequent progression to respiratory failure.

Accelerated co-cultured dendritic cell (acDC) loaded with autologous apoptotic bodies might be a promising approach for antigen delivery.

Antigens derived from engulfed apoptotic bodies that are presented by dendritic cells can amplify Ag-specific T-cells. Accelerated co-cultured DC (acDC) strategy keeps lymphocytes in contact with differentiating DCs. Therefore, Ag-specific T-cell activation can occur during DC maturation.

Safety and cross-variant immunogenicity of a three-dose COVID-19 mRNA vaccine regimen in kidney transplant recipients.

Background: The immunogenicity of a two-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccine regimen is low in kidney transplant (KT) recipients. Here, we provide a thorough assessment of the immunogenicity of a three-dose COVID-19 vaccine regimen in this population.

Methods: We performed a prospective longitudinal study in sixty-one KT recipients given three doses of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine.

Monitoring inflammation in psychiatry: Caveats and advice.

Most researchers working in the field of immunopsychiatry would agree with the statement that "severe psychiatric disorders are associated with inflammation and more broadly with changes in immune variables". However, as many other fields in biology and medicine, immunopsychiatry suffers from a replication crisis characterized by lack of reproducibility. In this paper, we will comment on four types of immune variables which have been studied in psychiatric disorders: Acute Phase Proteins (AAPs), cytokines, lipid mediators of inflammation and immune cell parameters, and discuss the rationale for looking at them in blood.

Blood cytokines differentiate bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder during a major depressive episode: Initial discovery and independent sample replication.

Bipolar disorder (BD) diagnosis currently relies on assessment of clinical symptoms, mainly retrospective and subject to memory bias. BD is often misdiagnosed as Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) resulting in ineffective treatment and worsened clinical outcome. The primary purpose of this study was to identify blood biomarkers that discriminate MDD from BD patients when in a depressed state.

Identification of Serum Interleukin 6 Levels as a Disease Severity Biomarker in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy.

Background: Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most common myopathies in adults, displaying a progressive, frequently asymmetric involvement of a typical muscles' pattern. FSHD is associated with epigenetic derepression of the polymorphic D4Z4 repeat on chromosome 4q, leading to DUX4 retrogene toxic expression in skeletal muscles. Identifying biomarkers that correlate with disease severity would facilitate clinical management and assess potential FSHD therapeutics' efficacy.

Reduced serum levels of pro-inflammatory chemokines in fragile X syndrome.

Background: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most frequent cause of inherited intellectual disability and the most commonly identified monogenic cause of autism. Recent studies have shown that long-term pathological consequences of FXS are not solely confined to the central nervous system (CNS) but rather extend to other physiological dysfunctions in peripheral organs. To gain insights into possible immune dysfunctions in FXS, we profiled a large panel of immune-related biomarkers in the serum of FXS patients and healthy controls.

Correction: Stratification and prediction of remission in first-episode psychosis patients: the OPTiMiSE cohort study.

The original Article did not feature the list of collaborators. This has now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of this Article.

Stratification and prediction of remission in first-episode psychosis patients: the OPTiMiSE cohort study.

Early response to first-line antipsychotic treatments is strongly associated with positive long-term symptomatic and functional outcome in psychosis. Unfortunately, attempts to identify reliable predictors of treatment response in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients have not yet been successful. One reason for this could be that FEP patients are highly heterogeneous in terms of symptom expression and underlying disease biological mechanisms, thereby impeding the identification of one-size-fits-all predictors of treatment response.

Islet amyloid polypeptide is not a target antigen for CD8+ T-cells in type 2 diabetes.

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a chronic metabolic disorder in which beta-cells are destroyed. The islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) produced by beta-cells has been reported to influence beta-cell destruction.

Objective: To evaluate if IAPP can act as an autoantigen and therefore, to see if CD8+ T-cells specific for this protein might be present in T2D patients.

Expression of NKG2D and CD107 in CD8(+) effector memory lymphocytes in Churg-Strauss syndrome.

Objectives: Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) is a necrotising vasculitis of small vessels in which oligoclonally expanded TCR Vβ CD8+ effector memory T cells populations (TEM) may be involved in vasculitic damage. The aim of this study was to assess the functional role of CD8+ T cells in CSS patients by flow cytometry analysis of membrane expression of cytotoxic markers NKG2D and CD107a.

Methods: Immunostaining of peripheral T cells and effector memory lymphocytes (TEM) from CSS patients and controls was performed by gating CD28 and CD45RA in the CD8+NKG2D+ and CD4+NKG2D+ populations.

Three sensitive assays do not provide evidence for circulating HuD-specific T cells in the blood of patients with paraneoplastic neurological syndromes with anti-Hu antibodies.

Anti-Hu antibody-associated paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (Hu-PNSs) are severe and often precede the detection of a malignancy, usually small-cell lung cancer. In Hu-PNS, it is hypothesized that neuronal cells are destroyed by T cells targeted against HuD, a protein expressed by small-cell lung cancer cells and neurons. There is only limited evidence for the existence of HuD-specific T cells.

Long-lasting immune responses 4 years after GAD-alum treatment in children with type 1 diabetes.

A phase II clinical trial with glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) 65 formulated with aluminium hydroxide (GAD-alum) has shown efficacy in preserving residual insulin secretion in children and adolescents with recent-onset type 1 diabetes (T1D). We have performed a 4-year follow-up study of 59 of the original 70 patients to investigate long-term cellular and humoral immune responses after GAD-alum-treatment. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were stimulated in vitro with GAD(65).

acDCs enhance human antigen-specific T-cell responses.

Detection of human Ag-specific T cells is limited by sensitivity and blood requirements. As dendritic cells (DCs) can potently stimulate T cells, we hypothesized that their induction in PBMCs in situ could link Ag processing and presentation to Ag-specific T-cell activation. To this end, unfractionated PBMCs (fresh or frozen) or whole blood were incubated for 48 hours with protein or peptide Ag together with different DC-activating agents to rapidly and sequentially induce, pulse, and mature DCs.

Evidence that nasal insulin induces immune tolerance to insulin in adults with autoimmune diabetes.

Objective: Insulin in pancreatic β-cells is a target of autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes. In the NOD mouse model of type 1 diabetes, oral or nasal administration of insulin induces immune tolerance to insulin and protects against autoimmune diabetes. Evidence for tolerance to mucosally administered insulin or other autoantigens is poorly documented in humans.

Measurement of CD8 T cell responses in human type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease targeting pancreatic beta-cells. Despite this textbook definition, it is quite striking that neither the diagnosis nor the therapy nor the follow-up of T1D "belong" to immunologists, but rather to endocrinologists whose only option is to limit the consequences of the disease. Immune therapies would seem better suited to correct the causes of T1D, but critical laboratory tools are missing for early diagnosis, prognostic stratification, and therapeutic follow-up.

Alloreactivity and anti-tumor activity segregate within two distinct subsets of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells: implications for their infusion across major HLA barriers.

Donor-derived cytokine-induced killer (CIK) can be infused as adoptive immunotherapy after hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT). Promising results were recently reported in HLA-identical HCT, where mild grafts versus host (GVH) events were observed. To extend this strategy across major HLA barriers (e.

Equivalent specificity of peripheral blood and islet-infiltrating CD8+ T lymphocytes in spontaneously diabetic HLA-A2 transgenic NOD mice.

CD8(+) T cells play an important role in the initiation of insulitis and in the destructive stage leading to insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. A string of recent studies has led to the identification of numerous HLA-A2-restricted epitopes derived from pancreatic beta cell Ags. It is hoped that assays detecting responses of patient PBMC to such epitopes might be instrumental for early diagnosis of beta cell-directed autoimmunity and for monitoring trials of immunointervention.

The frequency and immunodominance of islet-specific CD8+ T-cell responses change after type 1 diabetes diagnosis and treatment.

Objective: Islet-reactive CD8(+) T-cells play a key role in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes in the NOD mouse. The predominant T-cell specificities change over time, but whether similar shifts also occur after clinical diagnosis and insulin treatment in type 1 diabetic patients is unknown.

Research Design And Methods: We took advantage of a recently validated islet-specific CD8(+) T-cell gamma-interferon enzyme-linked immunospot (ISL8Spot) assay to follow responses against preproinsulin (PPI), GAD, insulinoma-associated protein 2 (IA-2), and islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit-related protein (IGRP) epitopes in 15 HLA-A2(+) adult type 1 diabetic patients close to diagnosis and at a second time point 7-16 months later.