Rare and common species contribute disproportionately to the functional variation within tropical forests.

Understanding how functional traits and functional entities (FEs, i.e., unique combinations of functional traits) are distributed within plant communities can contribute to the understanding of vegetation properties and changes in species composition.

Promoting long-term survival of insulin-producing cell grafts that differentiate from adipose tissue-derived stem cells to cure type 1 diabetes.

Background: Insulin-producing cell clusters (IPCCs) have recently been generated in vitro from adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs) to circumvent islet shortage. However, it is unknown how long they can survive upon transplantation, whether they are eventually rejected by recipients, and how their long-term survival can be induced to permanently cure type 1 diabetes. IPCC graft survival is critical for their clinical application and this issue must be systematically addressed prior to their in-depth clinical trials.

Cutting edge: programmed death-1 defines CD8+CD122+ T cells as regulatory versus memory T cells.

Recent convincing data have shown that naturally occurring CD8(+)CD122(+) T cells are also regulatory T cells. Paradoxically, CD8(+)CD122(+) T cells have been well described as memory T cells. Given their critical role in tolerance versus long-term immunity, it is important to reconcile this profound dichotomy.

Manipulating IL-2 availability amid presentation of donor MHC antigens suppresses murine alloimmune responses by inducing regulatory T cells.

Background: Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens are important for alloimmune responses as well as immune tolerance. Previous studies have shown that presentation of donor MHC antigens by donor-specific transfusion prior to or upon transplantation promotes transplant tolerance induced by other agents. However, it is unclear whether presentation of donor MHC antigens by DNA vaccination induces long-term allograft survival.

Induction of immune response and anti-tumor activities in mice with a DNA vaccine encoding human mucin 1 variable-number tandem repeats.

Mucin 1 (MUC1) is a tumor-associated antigen that carries the important variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR) epitopes for inducing cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Such a property makes MUC1 VNTR potentially attractive for immunotherapy. This study explored the possibility of developing an efficient anti-tumor vaccine strategy using the specific antitumor immunity induced by the MUC1 VNTR DNA vaccine combined with the adjuvant effect of a plasmid expressing murine interleukin-2 (IL-2).