Persistence of SARS-CoV-2-specific B and T cell responses in convalescent COVID-19 patients 6-8 months after the infection.

Background: Monitoring the adaptive immune responses during the natural course of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection provides useful information for the development of vaccination strategies against this virus and its emerging variants. We thus profiled the serum anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody (Ab) levels and specific memory B and T cell responses in convalescent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.

Methods: A total of 119 samples from 88 convalescent donors who experienced mild to critical disease were tested for the presence of elevated anti-spike and anti-receptor binding domain Ab levels over a period of 8 months.

Apolipoprotein A-I in mouse cerebrospinal fluid derives from the liver and intestine via plasma high-density lipoproteins assembled by ABCA1 and LCAT.

Apolipoprotein (apo) A-I, the major structural protein of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), is present in human and mouse cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) despite its lack of expression in brain cells. To identify the origin of apoA-I in CSF, we generated intestine-specific and liver-specific Apoa1 knockout mice (Apoa1 and Apoa1 mice, respectively). Lipoprotein profiles of Apoa1 and Apoa1 mice resembled those of control littermates, whereas knockout of Apoa1 in both intestine and liver (Apoa1 ) resulted in a 60-percent decrease in HDL-cholesterol levels, thus strongly mimicking the Apoa1 mice.

The Composition of Reconstituted High-Density Lipoproteins (rHDL) Dictates the Degree of rHDL Cargo- and Size-Remodeling via Direct Interactions with Endogenous Lipoproteins.

The application of reconstituted high-density lipoproteins (rHDL) as a drug-carrier has during the past decade been established as a promising approach for effective receptor-mediated drug delivery, and its ability to target tumors has recently been confirmed in a clinical trial. The rHDL mimics the endogenous HDL, which is known to be highly dynamic and undergo extensive enzyme-mediated remodulations. Hence, to reveal the physiological rHDL stability, a thorough characterization of the dynamics of rHDL in biologically relevant environments is needed.

Galectin-3 Targeting in Thyroid Orthotopic Tumors Opens New Ways to Characterize Thyroid Cancer.

Preoperative characterization of thyroid nodules is challenging since thyroid scintigraphy fails to distinguish between benign and malignant lesions. Galectin-3 (gal-3) is expressed in well-differentiated and in undifferentiated thyroid cancer types but not in normal thyrocytes and benign thyroid lesions. Herein, we aimed to validate gal-3 targeting as a specific method to detect non-radioiodine-avid thyroid cancer in thyroid orthotopic tumor models.

Noninvasive In Vivo Imaging and Biologic Characterization of Thyroid Tumors by ImmunoPET Targeting of Galectin-3.

The high prevalence of thyroid nodules in the adult population and the relatively low incidence of thyroid cancer make the preoperative identification of malignant lesions challenging. The β-galactoside-binding protein galectin-3 is widely expressed in well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas, but not in normal thyrocytes and benign thyroid nodules. This molecule offers a candidate biomarker to improve thyroid cancer diagnosis.