Enterosorbents in complex therapy of food allergies: a focus on digestive disorders and systemic toxicity in children.

The review analyzes mechanisms and concomitant factors in developing IgE-associated allergic diseases provoked by food allergens and discusses clinical symptoms and current approaches for the treatment of food allergies. The expediency of using enterosorbents in complex therapy of food allergies and skin and respiratory manifestations associated with gastroenterological disorders is substantiated. The review summarizes the experience of using enterosorbents in post-Soviet countries to detoxify the human body.

Key Factors for Thymic Function and Development.

The thymus is the organ responsible for T cell development and the formation of the adaptive immunity function. Its multicellular environment consists mainly of the different stromal cells and maturing T lymphocytes. Thymus-specific progenitors of epithelial, mesenchymal, and lymphoid cells with stem cell properties represent only minor populations.

Thymus Regeneration and Future Challenges.

Thymus regenerative therapy implementation is severely obstructed by the limited number and expansion capacity in vitro of tissue-specific thymic epithelial stem cells (TESC). Current solutions are mostly based on growth factors that can drive differentiation of pluripotent stem cells toward tissue-specific TESC. Target-specific small chemical compounds represent an alternative solution that could induce and support the clonal expansion of TESC and reversibly block their differentiation into mature cells.

Stem cell culture conditions and stability: a joint workshop of the PluriMes Consortium and Pluripotent Stem Cell Platform.

Human stem cells have the potential to transform medicine. However, hurdles remain to ensure that manufacturing processes produce safe and effective products. A thorough understanding of the biological processes occurring during manufacture is fundamental to assuring these qualities and thus, their acceptability to regulators and clinicians.

Effect of cryopreservation on viability and growth efficiency of stromal-epithelial cells derived from neonatal human thymus.

The thymus is the major site of T lymphocyte generation and so is critical for a functional adaptive immune system. Since, thymectomy is a component of neonatal surgery for congenital heart diseases, it provides great potential for collection and storage of thymic tissue for autologous transplantation. However, specific investigation into the optimum parameters for thymic tissue cryopreservation have not been conducted.

Immunomodulatory effects of hemagglutinin- (HA-) modified A20 B-cell lymphoma expanded as a brain tumor on adoptively transferred HA-Specific CD4+ T cells.

Previously, the mouse A20 B-cell lymphoma engineered to express hemagglutinin (HA) antigen (A20HA) was used as a systemic tumor model. In this work, we used the A20HA cells as a brain tumor. HA-specific CD4(+) T cells were transferred intravenously in a tail vein 5 days after A20HA intracranial inoculation and analyzed on days 2, 9, and 16 after the adoptive transfer by different methods.

TNF receptor p55 and IL-8(72) and IL-8(77) isoforms: blood and urine levels in breast cancer patients.

In the preliminary study reported here, 37 patients with breast cancer and 10 healthy volunteers were analyzed for soluble TNF-R p55 and two variants of IL-8 consisting of 72 and 77 amino acid residues (IL-8(72) and IL-8(77), respectively) in their blood and urine with novel ELISA test systems. The clinical/prognostic values of determining these inflammatory cytokines at different stages of the cancer process appeared to depend on the treatment course being evaluated. In contrast to expectations, it was noted that there was a stabile tendency for decreased TNF-R p55 and IL-8(72) levels in the plasma and urine of breast cancer patients as compared with levels observed with healthy controls.

Properties of hybridomas generated by spleen cells of IL-4- and IL-13-knockout mice.

Interleukin-4 (IL-4)- and IL-13-knockout mice were immunized with murine recombinant IL-4 or IL-13, and spleen cells were fused with P3X63-Ag8.653 myeloma cells. Selection of the antigen-positive hybridomas was fulfilled in the presence of IL-6 containing thymic stroma cell supernatant (TSS).

Cytokine-deficient mice as a model for generation of autologous anti-cytokine monoclonal antibodies.

The possibility of inducing immune responses to murine interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-13 and generating anti-cytokine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) was studied in IL-4- and IL-13-knockout mice. The minimal doses of IL-4 or IL-13 that could induce significant anti-cytokine responses with titers of 5000-10,000 were 20 microg per injection with the total doses of 100 microg. The highest titers in a range of 20,480-40,960 were achieved by triple immunization of IL-13-knockout mice with 30 microg of IL-13 per injection.

Radioresistant cells of thymus--producers and targets of thymocyte growth factor and their possible role in postradiation restoration of thymus.

In the present study the association between the damaging and the stimulating action of radiation on the cells of thymus (in particular intrathymic T-lymphocyte precursors, TLP) is analyzed. The radioresistance and possibility to secrete humoral products, in particular, the thymocytes growth factor, THGF, is assessed. The possible role of THGF in the postradiation restoration of thymus is also discussed.

[Characteristics of the mitogenic activity of purified thymocyte growth factor].

Being purified by gel filtration and reverse phase HPLC the thymocyte growth factor from the supernatant of the cell line of intrathymic precursors of T-lymphocytes can stimulate the growth of splenocytes and thymocytes nonactivated by mitogen. Addition of suboptimal doses of mitogen or phorbol myristate acetate does not enhance the cell response to the thymocyte growth factor. The thymocyte growth factor in capable of stimulating the growth of thymocytes synergistically with interleukin-2, but the direct action of the thymocyte growth factor is not mediated by the production and reception of interleukin-2 and interleukin-4.

Purification and characterization of a thymocyte growth factor. 2. Biological activity of the thymocyte growth factor.

A thymocyte growth factor, THGF, purified from the supernatant of a thymic T-lymphocyte-precursor cell line (TC.SC-1/2.0), stimulated the growth of splenocytes and thymocytes that had not been activated by a mitogen.

Purification and characterization of a thymocyte growth factor. 1. Purification.

A thymocyte growth factor has been purified by gel filtration and reverse-phase hplc from the culture medium of a T-lymphocyte-precursor cell line TC.SC-1/2.0.

Properties of intrathymic T-lymphocyte precursors--targets of thymocyte growth factor (THGF).

Primary and long-term thymocyte cultures were used to analyze intrathymic T-lymphocyte precursors (TLP), the targets of thymocyte growth factor (THGF). It is shown that THGF has an effect on TLP not only as a growth factor, but also, and first of all, as an activation factor, triggering autocrine TLP proliferation. This is realized through secondary products, such as IL-2, IL-3, and THGF of endogenous origin, secreted by the THGF target cells.

Bone marrow and intrathymic precursors of T-cells produce a factor which enhances colony formation in the spleen.

Bone marrow Ig-Thy-1-SC-1- stem cells (precursors of T-lymphocytes, PTL, containing the SC-1 antigen) spontaneously secrete a humoral factor. When bone marrow Ig-Thy-1-SC-1- cells were treated with this factor they became able to form haemopoietic colonies in the spleens of lethally irradiated mice. This new colony-stimulating factor (CSF) is thermostable and has a molecular mass of about 25-30 kDa.

[Radiation stimulation of the production of thymocyte growth factor and its possible role in thymus recovery].

Cells of two lines originating from intrathymic precursors of mouse T-lymphocytes produce an autocrine growth factor. The factor production during a certain period of the development of lines is drastically increased by radiation. The stimulatory effect of radiation cannot be explained by the release of the factor due to cell death.

[T-lymphocyte precursors--the target cells of thymocyte growth factor].

The cortisol-resistant PNA+SC- --1+Thy--1+-thymocytes are the target cells for the thymocyte growth factor (THGF), which is produced by the lines of transformed precursors of T-lymphocytes (PTL). These cells have the same properties and markers as the intrathymic PTL. The bone marrow cells do not proliferate in response to THGF but acquire that ability after the influence of thymic hormones, which induce the maturation of PTL.

[Lines of transformed mouse thymus cells. II. Cell morphology, karyology, ultrastructure and growth in vitro and in vivo].

Morphology, fine structure, karyology and growth of intrathymus pre-T-cell cultures (TC.SC-1/1.1 and TC.

[Lines of transformed murine thymus cells. I. Production of the lines].

Supernatant of activated cells of human T-leucosis line "Jurkat" enriched with interleukin-2 (IL-2) was injected to Balb/c mice. After a number of injections the animals were sacrificed and the thymus cells were cultured in vitro. Transformed cell clones were formed on days 3-4.