Three-dimensional neuroimmune co-culture system for modeling Parkinson's disease microenvironments.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex and multifaceted neurodegenerative disorder that results from multiple environmental factors and multicellular interactions. Although several PD neuropathologies have been identified and described, the thorough understanding of PD pathophysiology and research has been largely limited by the absence of reliablemodels that truly recapitulate PD microenvironments. Here, we propose a neuroimmune co-culture system that models PD neuropathologies by combining relevant multicellular interactions with environments that mimic the brain.

Evaluating the Impact of Thermal Processing on the Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Non-Centrifugal Cane Sugar: Implications on Cytokine Secretion and TLR4 Signaling.

Plant-derived products have gained considerable attention as inflammation modulators given the wide variety of anti-inflammatory phytochemicals reported to be present in plants and their limited side effects during prolonged exposure periods. Non-centrifugal cane sugar (NCS) has been identified as a promising sugarcane-derived product due to its high polyphenolic composition and antioxidant potential, but its incorporations into nutraceuticals and other relevant products of biomedical interest has been limited by the ample composition-wise variability resulting from extreme and loosely controlled processing conditions. Here, we assessed the effect of reducing thermal exposure during NCS processing on the retained polyphenolic profiles, as well as on their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

Diminished mitogen-induced T cell proliferation by Trypanosoma cruzi antigens associated with antigen-presenting cell modulation and CD3 signaling.

Chronic infection by Trypanosoma cruzi decreases T cell proliferation and it is most likely accompanied by changes in signals required for activation. We assessed the effect of T. cruzi antigens on mitogen-induced proliferation of T cells from uninfected individuals and the association with the expression of molecules involved in antigen presentation, T cell costimulation and activation, and cytokine production.

Percentages of CD4+CD8+ Double-positive T Lymphocytes in the Peripheral Blood of Adults from a Blood Bank in Bogotá, Colombia.

Objective: CD4+CD8+ double-positive T-cells (DPTs) have been classified as a separate T-cell subpopulation, with two main phenotypes: CD4 CD8 and CD4 CD8. In recent years, the relevance of DPTs in the pathogenesis of infections, tumors, and autoimmune diseases has been recognized. Reference values among healthy individuals remain unknown.

Intermediate Monocytes and Cytokine Production Associated With Severe Forms of Chagas Disease.

Monocytes are classified according to their CD14 and CD16 expression into classical (reparative), intermediate (inflammatory), and non-classical. This study assessed the frequency of monocyte and the relationship between monocyte subset percentages and the levels of blood cytokines in Colombian chagasic patients with different clinical forms. This study included chagasic patients in different clinical stages: indeterminate (IND) = 14, chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCC) = 14, and heart transplant chagasic (HTCC) = 9; controls with non-chagasic cardiopathy (NCC) = 15, and healthy individuals (HI) = 15.

Pilot Study of an Integrative New Tool for Studying Clinical Outcome Discrimination in Acute Leukemia.

Acute leukemia is a heterogeneous set of diseases affecting children and adults. Current prognostic factors are not accurate predictors of the clinical outcome of adult patients and the stratification of risk groups remains insufficient. For that reason, this study proposes a multifactorial analysis which integrates clinical parameters, tumor characterization and behavioral analysis in zebrafish.

T cells responding to Trypanosoma cruzi detected by membrane TNF-α and CD154 in chagasic patients.

Introduction: Chagas disease is a parasitic infection whose pathogenesis is related to parasite persistence and a dysfunctional cellular immune response. Variability in cytokine secretion among chronic Trypanosoma cruzi-infected patients might preclude the identification of the pool of antigen specific T cells. The goal of this study was to determine the fraction of T cells responding to T.

Sulfocerebrosides upregulate liposome uptake in human astrocytes without inducing a proinflammatory response.

Astrocytes are involved in the pathogenesis of demyelinating diseases, where they actively regulate the secretion of proinflammatory factors, and trigger the recruitment of immune cells in the central nervous system (CNS). Antigen presentation of myelin-derived proteins has been shown to trigger astrocyte response, suggesting that astrocytes can directly sense demyelination. However, the direct response of astrocytes to lipid-debris generated during demyelination has not been investigated.

T lymphocytes from chagasic patients are activated but lack proliferative capacity and down-regulate CD28 and CD3ζ.

Background: Chronic persistent infections have been associated with T lymphocytes functional impairment. The aim of this study was to compare the activation status, the proliferative potential and the expression of CD28 and CD3ζ chain on T lymphocytes between chronic chagasic patients and uninfected controls.

Methodology/principal Findings: Forty-two chronic chagasic patients, 28 healthy individuals and 32 non-chagasic cardiomyopathy donors were included.

Increased CD4+/CD8+ double-positive T cells in chronic Chagasic patients.

Background: CD4+/CD8+ double positive (DP) T cells have been described in healthy individuals as well as in patients with autoimmune and chronic infectious diseases. In chronic viral infections, this cell subset has effector memory phenotype and displays antigen specificity. No previous studies of double positive T cells in parasite infections have been carried out.