Publications by authors named "Rengasamy Asokan"

Problem: Immune cell trafficking and surveillance within the ovary and fallopian tube are thought to impact fertility and also tumorigenesis in those organs. However, little is known of how native cells of the ovary and fallopian tube interact with resident immune cells. Interaction of the Programmed Cell Death Protein-1 (PD-1/PDCD-1/CD279) checkpoint with PD-L1 is associated with downregulated immune response.

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Background: Biliary atresia (BA) is an inflammatory pediatric cholangiopathy with only surgical means for treatment. Many contributors to bile acid synthesis and transport have previously been reported to be downregulated in patients with BA; yet, the driving factors of the abnormal bile acid synthesis and transport in regard to BA have not been previously studied.

Materials And Methods: Wild type or Ig-α mice were injected with salt solution (control) or rotavirus on day of life 0, and analyses were performed on day of life 14.

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Human CR2 is a B cell membrane glycoprotein that plays a central role in autoimmunity. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients show reduced CR2 levels, and complete deficiency of CR2 and CR1 promotes the development of anti-DNA antibodies in mouse models of SLE. Here we show that multiple forms of DNA, including bacterial, viral and mammalian DNA, bind to human CR2 with moderately high affinity.

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Complement receptor type 2 (CR2, CD21) is a cell surface protein that links the innate and adaptive immune response during the activation of B-cells through its binding to C3d, a cleavage fragment of the major complement component C3. The extracellular portion of CR2 comprises 15 or 16 short complement regulator (SCR) domains in a partially folded-back but flexible structure. Here, the effect of C3d binding to CR2 was determined by analytical ultracentrifugation and X-ray scattering.

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Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection of B cells is associated with lymphoma and other human cancers. EBV infection is initiated by the binding of the viral envelope glycoprotein (gp350) to the cell surface receptor CR2. We determined the X-ray structure of the highly glycosylated gp350 and defined the CR2 binding site on gp350.

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Complement receptor type 2 (CR2, CD21) is a cell surface protein that links the innate and adaptive immune response during the activation of B cells. The extracellular portion of CR2 comprises 15 or 16 short complement regulator (SCR) domains, for which the overall arrangement in solution is unknown. This was determined by constrained scattering and ultracentrifugation modelling.

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Human complement receptor type 2 (CR2/CD21) is a B lymphocyte membrane glycoprotein that plays a central role in the immune responses to foreign Ags as well as the development of autoimmunity to nuclear Ags in systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition to these three well-characterized ligands, C3d/iC3b, EBV-gp350, and CD23, a previous study has identified CR2 as a potential receptor for IFN-alpha. IFN-alpha, a multifunctional cytokine important in the innate immune system, has recently been proposed to play a major pathogenic role in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus in humans and mice.

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We have characterized the interaction between the first two short consensus repeats (SCR1-2) of complement receptor type 2 (CR2, CD21) and C3d in solution, by utilising the available crystal structures of free and C3d-bound forms of CR2 to create a series of informative mutations targeting specific areas of the CR2-C3d complex. Wild-type and mutant forms of CR2 were expressed on the surface of K562 erythroleukemia cells and their binding ability assessed using C3dg-biotin tetramers complexed to fluorochrome conjugated streptavidin and measured by flow cytometry. Mutations directed at the SCR2-C3d interface (R83A, R83E, G84Y) were found to strongly disrupt C3dg binding, supporting the conclusion that the SCR2 interface reflected in the crystal structure is correct.

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