Stereotypic T cell receptor clonotypes in the thymus and peripheral blood of Myasthenia gravis patients.

Myasthenia Gravis (MG) patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibodies frequently show hyperplastic thymi with ectopic germinal centers, where autoreactive B cells proliferate with the aid of T cells. In this study, thymus and peripheral blood (PB) samples were collected from ten AChR antibody-positive MG patients. T cell receptor (TCR) repertoires were analyzed using next-generation sequencing (NGS), and compared with that of an age and sex matched control group generated from a public database.

Selective Control of Novel TiO Nanorods: Excellent Building Blocks for the Electron Transport Layer of Mesoscopic Perovskite Solar Cells.

Novel TiO nanorods (NRs) with various lengths of 70-200 nm and uniform widths of 46-48 nm are selectively synthesized by a solvothermal reaction under a basic environment. The length of TiO NRs is reproducibly tuned by varying the concentration of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), while the NRs in the pure anatase phase are grown in the [001] direction, caused by the preferential binding affinity of TMAH to the TiO (101) facet. TiO NRs of various lengths are then applied to form the electron transporting layer (ETL) of mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (PSCs).

Enhanced Phase Stability of Compressive Strain-Induced Perovskite Crystals.

Control of strain in perovskite crystals has been considered as an effective strategy to ensure the phase stability of perovskite films where a compressive strain is particularly preferred over a tensile strain due to a lowered Gibbs free energy by the unit cell contraction effect. Here we adapt the strategy of strain control into perovskite solar cells in which the compressive strain is applied by utilizing a thermal expansion difference between the perovskite film and an adjacent layer. Poly(4-butylphenyldiphenylamine), with a higher thermal expansion coefficient compared to that of perovskite, is employed as a substrate for perovskite crystal growth at 100 °C, followed by cooling to room temperature.

Induction of Anti-Aquaporin 5 Autoantibody Production by Immunization with a Peptide Derived from the Aquaporin of Leads to Reduced Salivary Flow in Mice.

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by dryness of the mouth and eyes. The glandular dysfunction in SS involves not only T cell-mediated destruction of the glands but also autoantibodies against the type 3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor or aquaporin 5 (AQP5) that interfere with the secretion process. Studies on the breakage of tolerance and induction of autoantibodies to these autoantigens could benefit SS patients.

Amplification of a minimally biased antibody repertoire for in vitro display using a universal primer-based amplification method.

Immune hosts are valuable sources for antibody discovery. To construct in vitro display antibody libraries from immune repertoires, singleplex or multiplex PCR amplification were employed using primers targeting multiple immunoglobulin genes. However, during this process, the B cell receptor repertoire is distorted due to interactions between multiple target genes and primers.