The role of receptor-ligand endocytosis and degradation in interleukin-2 signaling and T-lymphocyte proliferation.

The specific intracellular signaling pathways for interleukin-2 (IL-2) that lead to delivery of the proliferative stimulus are currently unknown. We and others have excluded signaling pathways used by other growth factors and by the antigen-specific T-cell receptor, such as increased intracellular Ca2+ concentrations, activation of protein kinase C, or ion transport across the plasma membrane. One feature of IL-2 signaling that may be important in delivery of the proliferative stimulus is endocytosis and processing of the lymphokine receptor-ligand complex.

Lactational alcohol exposure elicits long-term immune deficits and increased noradrenergic synaptic transmission in lymphoid organs.

Increasing evidence suggests that the sympathetic nervous system plays an important role in immunomodulation. While chronic alcohol consumption has been associated with immune deficits, the effects of exposure to alcohol during early postnatal life on subsequent immunocompetence and activity of sympathetic neurons in lymphoid organs are not known. This study examined the long-term effects of lactational alcohol consumption on cellular immune responses and noradrenergic synaptic transmission in lymphoid and other organs of the young adult C57BL/6 mouse.

Prenatal ethanol exposure alters immune capacity and noradrenergic synaptic transmission in lymphoid organs of the adult mouse.

Clinical and experimental evidence indicates that exposure to alcohol in utero is associated with altered immune capacity. The mechanisms underlying such abnormalities are not clear. However, the suggestion that reciprocal interactions between the immune and the nervous systems are necessary for a competent immune response may be relevant.

Afferent and efferent specificity in the induction and elicitation of parental cross-protective immunity by an immunogenic murine tumor variant: associative recognition of a unique tumor-specific antigen on somatic cell hybrids.

Highly immunogenic (Imm+) murine tumor cell variants can engender a strong tumor-specific, cross-protective immune response against challenge with the weakly immunogenic parental tumor cell line. We examined the afferent induction and efferent specificity of the parental cross-protective immunity observed following immunization with the Imm+ variant of the murine fibrosarcoma MCA-F, designated MCA-FM1. Specificity of the afferent and efferent responses against the parental tumor in mice immunized with the MCA-FM1 variant were monitored by challenge with the tumor MCA-D, which expresses a tumor-specific antigen that is immunologically distinct from but biochemically related to the MCA-F antigen.

Immunological characteristics of immunogenic variants induced in the MCA-F murine fibrosarcoma using 1-methyl-3-nitro-1-nitrosoguanidine, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, or ultraviolet radiation.

The purpose of this study was to compare the frequency of generation and in vivo cross-reactivity of highly immunogenic (Imm+) clones induced in a single parental murine fibrosarcoma cell line MCA-F by 4 weekly treatments with either UV-B radiation, 1-methyl-3-nitro-1-nitrosoguanidine, or 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. These agents are believed to induce Imm+ variants by different mechanisms. The frequency of Imm+ variant generation was similar for the three different protocols, suggesting that the frequency of Imm+ generation was related more closely to the cell line than the inducing agent used.