B7h (ICOS-L) maintains tolerance at the fetomaternal interface.

In a successful pregnancy, the semiallogeneic fetus is not rejected by the maternal immune system, which implies tolerance mechanisms protecting fetal tissues from maternal immune attack. Here we report that the ICOS-B7h costimulatory pathway plays a critical role in maintaining the equilibrium at the fetomaternal interface. Blockade of this pathway increased fetal resorption and decreased fetal survival in an allogeneic pregnancy model (CBA female × B6 male).

Anti-CD3 mAb treatment cures PDL1-/-.NOD mice of diabetes but precipitates fatal myocarditis.

Anti-CD3 mAb is an effective therapy that can reverse diabetes in NOD mice and has therapeutic potential in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). We administered anti-CD3 to PDL1-/-.NOD mice in order to determine whether this treatment would reverse the development of diabetes in these mice.

Immunomodulatory function of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in experimental autoimmune type 1 diabetes.

Human clinical trials in type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients using mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are presently underway without prior validation in a mouse model for the disease. In response to this void, we characterized bone marrow-derived murine MSC for their ability to modulate immune responses in the context of T1D, as represented in NOD mice. In comparison to NOD mice, BALB/c-MSC mice were found to express higher levels of the negative costimulatory molecule PD-L1 and to promote a shift toward Th2-like responses in treated NOD mice.

Targeting CD22 reprograms B-cells and reverses autoimmune diabetes.

Objectives: To investigate a B-cell-depleting strategy to reverse diabetes in naïve NOD mice.

Research Design And Methods: We targeted the CD22 receptor on B-cells of naïve NOD mice to deplete and reprogram B-cells to effectively reverse autoimmune diabetes.

Results: Anti-CD22/cal monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy resulted in early and prolonged B-cell depletion and delayed disease in pre-diabetic mice.

mTORC2 regulates PGE2-mediated endothelial cell survival and migration.

Prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) promotes angiogenesis by in part inducing endothelial cell survival and migration. The present study examined the role of mTOR and its two complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, in PGE(2)-mediated endothelial cell responses. We used small interfering RNA (siRNA) to raptor or rictor to block mTORC1 or mTORC2, respectively.

Programmed cell death in the lithium pilocarpine model: evidence for NMDA receptor and ceramide-mediated mechanisms.

Ceramide is known to induce programmed cell death (PCD) in neural and non-neural tissues and to increase after kainic acid (KA) status epilepticus (SE). Ceramide increases have been shown to depend on NMDA receptor activation in the KA model, but these changes have not been studied in the lithium pilocarpine (LiPC) model. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine if hippocampal ceramide levels increase after LiPC induced SE and if NMDA receptor blockade prevents PCD and any such ceramide increases.

Critical role of donor tissue expression of programmed death ligand-1 in regulating cardiac allograft rejection and vasculopathy.

Background: Allograft vasculopathy is a major limiting factor in the long-term success of cardiac transplantation. T cells play a critical role in initiation of cardiac allograft rejection and allograft vasculopathy. The negative T-cell costimulatory pathway PD-1:PDL1/PDL2 (programmed death-1:programmed death ligand-1/2) plays an important role in regulating alloimmune responses.

A link between PDL1 and T regulatory cells in fetomaternal tolerance.

Acceptance of the fetus expressing allogeneic paternal Ags by the mother is a physiologic model of transplantation tolerance. Various mechanisms contribute to fetal evasion from immune attack by maternal leukocytes. We have recently demonstrated that the inhibitory costimulatory molecule PDL1 plays a critical role in fetomaternal tolerance in that PDL1 blockade or deficiency resulted in decreased allogeneic fetal survival rates.

Role of ICOS pathway in autoimmune and alloimmune responses in NOD mice.

Islet allografts are subject to alloimmune and autoimmune destruction when transplanted into autoimmune prone animals or humans. The ICOS-B7h pathway plays a role in alloimmune responses, but its function in autoimmunity against islet cells is controversial. We investigated the role of ICOS signaling in autoimmune and alloimmune responses in NOD mice.

Mechanisms of PDL1-mediated regulation of autoimmune diabetes.

The PD-1-PDL1 pathway plays a critical role in regulating autoimmune diabetes as blockade or deficiency of PD-1 or PDL1 results in accelerated disease in NOD mice. We explored the cellular mechanisms involved in the regulation of these autoimmune responses by investigations involving various gene-deficient mice on the NOD background. Administration of blocking anti-PDL1 antibody to CD4+ T cell-deficient, CD8+ T cell-deficient and B cell-deficient mice demonstrated that PDL1-mediated regulation of autoreactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells is critical for diabetes development.