MAVS deficiency induces gut dysbiotic microbiota conferring a proallergic phenotype.

Prominent changes in the gut microbiota (referred to as "dysbiosis") play a key role in the development of allergic disorders, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Study of the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response in mice contributed to our knowledge of the pathophysiology of human allergic contact dermatitis. Here we report a negative regulatory role of the RIG-I-like receptor adaptor mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS) on DTH by modulating gut bacterial ecology.

Antigen-Induced but Not Innate Memory CD8 T Cells Express NKG2D and Are Recruited to the Lung Parenchyma upon Viral Infection.

The pool of memory-phenotype CD8 T cells is composed of Ag-induced (AI) and cytokine-induced innate (IN) cells. IN cells have been described as having properties similar to those of AI memory cells. However, we found that pathogen-induced AI memory cells can be distinguished in mice from naturally generated IN memory cells by surface expression of NKG2D.

Mechanistic insights into the efficacy of cell penetrating peptide-based cancer vaccines.

Immunotherapies are increasingly used to treat cancer, with some outstanding results. Immunotherapy modalities include therapeutic vaccination to eliminate cancer cells through the activation of patient's immune system against tumor-derived antigens. Nevertheless, the full potential of therapeutic vaccination has yet to be demonstrated clinically because many early generation vaccines elicited low-level immune responses targeting only few tumor antigens.

Immune signatures of protective spleen memory CD8 T cells.

Memory CD8 T lymphocyte populations are remarkably heterogeneous and differ in their ability to protect the host. In order to identify the whole range of qualities uniquely associated with protective memory cells we compared the gene expression signatures of two qualities of memory CD8 T cells sharing the same antigenic-specificity: protective (Influenza-induced, Flu-TM) and non-protective (peptide-induced, TIM) spleen memory CD8 T cells. Although Flu-TM and TIM express classical phenotypic memory markers and are polyfunctional, only Flu-TM protects against a lethal viral challenge.

Regulation of mouse NK cell development and function by cytokines.

Natural Killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes with an important role in the early defense against intracellular pathogens and against tumors. Like other immune cells, almost every aspects of their biology are regulated by cytokines. Interleukin (IL)-15 is pivotal for their development, homeostasis, and activation.

c-Myc dependent expression of pro-apoptotic Bim renders HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells dependent on anti-apoptotic Mcl-1.

Background: Anti-apoptotic signals induced downstream of HER2 are known to contribute to the resistance to current treatments of breast cancer cells that overexpress this member of the EGFR family. Whether or not some of these signals are also involved in tumor maintenance by counteracting constitutive death signals is much less understood. To address this, we investigated what role anti- and pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members, key regulators of cancer cell survival, might play in the viability of HER2 overexpressing breast cancer cells.