Publications by authors named "Srinivas Nagaraj"

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a heterogeneous group of myeloid cells that play a major role in the regulation of immune responses in many pathological conditions. These cells have a common myeloid origin, relatively immature state, common genetic and biochemical profiles, and, most importantly, the ability to inhibit immune responses. Although initial studies of MDSCs were almost exclusively performed in tumor-bearing mice or cancer patients, in recent years, it became clear that MDSCs play a critical role in the regulation of different types of inflammation that are not directly associated with cancer.

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Natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPRA), the signaling receptor for the cardiac hormone, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), is expressed abundantly in inflamed/injured tissues and tumors. NPRA deficiency substantially decreases tissue inflammation and inhibits tumor growth. However, the precise mechanism of NPRA function and whether it links inflammation and tumorigenesis remains unknown.

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Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a group of myeloid cells composed of hematopoietic progenitor cells, immature macrophages, dendritic cells, and granulocytes, which accumulate in inflammatory diseases and various cancers. Here, we investigated the dynamic changes and effects of MDSCs in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) development and/or tumor relapse after syngeneic and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). We found that adding functional MDSCs in donor graft alleviated GVHD, whereas removal of MDSCs in vivo exacerbated GVHD.

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Myeloid derived suppressor cells play a critical role in T cell suppression in cancer. Here, we discuss the mechanisms of how MDSC suppress CD4(+) or CD8(+) T cells in an antigen dependent or non-dependent manner.

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Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) play a major role in cancer-related immune suppression, yet the nature of this suppression remains controversial. In this study, we evaluated the ability of MDSCs to elicit CD4(+) T-cell tolerance in different mouse tumor models. In contrast to CD8(+) T-cell tolerance, which could be induced by MDSCs in all the tumor models tested, CD4(+) T-cell tolerance could be elicited in only one of the models (MC38) in which a substantial level of MHC class II was expressed on MDSCs compared with control myeloid cells.

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Purpose Of Review: In this review, we describe the 'state-of-the-art' in our knowledge of asthma and what gaps exist, which can be exploited in the future for effective translation of our knowledge from the bench or population studies to diagnosis and therapy.

Recent Findings: The advent of microbiome research has expanded the potential role of microbes in asthma. There has been a significant increase in our understanding of the pathologic, genetic, cellular and molecular mechanisms of asthma.

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Myeloid-derived suppressor cells are one of the major factors responsible for immune suppression in cancer. They also contribute to limited efficacy of current vaccination strategies. Here, we give an overview of the myeloid-derived suppressor cells field focusing primarily on the studies in cancer patients and current and future therapeutic options targeting these cells.

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Dendritic cells (DCs), a type of professional antigen-presenting cells, are responsible for initiation and maintenance of immune responses. Here we report that a substantial proportion of DCs in tumor-bearing mice and people with cancer have high amounts of triglycerides as compared with DCs from tumor-free mice and healthy individuals. In our studies, lipid accumulation in DCs was caused by increased uptake of extracellular lipids due to upregulation of scavenger receptor A.

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Cancer immunotherapy faces a serious challenge because of low clinical efficacy. Recently, a number of clinical studies have reported the serendipitous finding of high rates of objective clinical response when cancer vaccines are combined with chemotherapy in patients with different types of cancers. However, the mechanism of this phenomenon remains unclear.

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Purpose: Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are one of the major factors responsible for immune suppression in cancer. Therefore, it would be important to identify effective therapeutic means to modulate these cells.

Experimental Design: We evaluated the effect of the synthetic triterpenoid C-28 methyl ester of 2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9,-dien-28-oic acid (CDDO-Me; bardoxolone methyl) in MC38 colon carcinoma, Lewis lung carcinoma, and EL-4 thymoma mouse tumor models, as well as blood samples from patients with renal cell cancer and soft tissue sarcoma.

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Ag-specific T cell tolerance plays a critical role in tumor escape. Recent studies implicated myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the induction of CD8(+) T cell tolerance in tumor-bearing hosts. However, the mechanism of this phenomenon remained unclear.

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Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a heterogeneous population of cells that expand during cancer, inflammation and infection, and that have a remarkable ability to suppress T-cell responses. These cells constitute a unique component of the immune system that regulates immune responses in healthy individuals and in the context of various diseases. In this Review, we discuss the origin, mechanisms of expansion and suppressive functions of MDSCs, as well as the potential to target these cells for therapeutic benefit.

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Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are a heterogeneous group of cells that play a critical role in tumor associated immune suppression. In an attempt to identify a specific subset of MDSC primarily responsible for immunosuppressive features of these cells, 10 different tumor models were investigated. All models showed variable but significant increase in the population of MDSC.

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Objectives: The major histocompatibility complex class II chaperone invariant chain (Ii) is widely used as a carrier for inserted antigenic sequences and their introduction into the class II processing pathway. The tumor-associated antigen core 2beta 1,6 N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (C2GnT), a glycosyltransferase present in human pancreatic tumor cells, is not expressed by normal pancreatic tissues.

Methods: A set of expression vectors was engineered where the class II binding region of Ii was replaced by C2GnT-derived sequences.

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Accumulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) associated with inhibition of dendritic cell (DC) differentiation is one of the major immunological abnormalities in cancer and leads to suppression of antitumor immune responses. The molecular mechanism of this phenomenon remains unclear. We report here that STAT3-inducible up-regulation of the myeloid-related protein S100A9 enhances MDSC production in cancer.

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T-cell nonresponsiveness is a critical factor in immune escape and myeloid-derived suppressor cells play a major role in organizing this phenomenon. Recent findings indicate that myeloid-derived suppressor cells can induce antigen-specific CD8(+) T-cell tolerance through a posttranslation mechanism which involves modification (nitration) of CD8 and the T-cell receptor itself on the T-cell surface. Elucidation of this mechanism of T-cell tolerance offers new opportunities for therapeutic corrections of immune escape in cancer.

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Objectives: Orthotopic tumor models are regarded as being suitable for preclinical research on pancreatic cancer. The anatomic localization of the tumor in the retroperitoneum, however, provides little possibility for monitoring tumor growth.

Methods: To assess time-related changes in orthotopic tumor volume, we applied transabdominal high-resolution compound imaging to the murine pancreas.

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The development of tumor-specific T cell tolerance is largely responsible for tumor escape. Accumulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in animal tumor models as well as in cancer patients is involved in tumor-associated T cell tolerance. In recent years, it has become increasingly evident that MDSCs bring about antigen-specific T cell tolerance by various mechanisms, which is the focus of this chapter.

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Antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell tolerance, induced by myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), is one of the main mechanisms of tumor escape. Using in vivo models, we show here that MDSCs directly disrupt the binding of specific peptide-major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) dimers to CD8-expressing T cells through nitration of tyrosines in a T-cell receptor (TCR)-CD8 complex. This process makes CD8-expressing T cells unable to bind pMHC and to respond to the specific peptide, although they retain their ability to respond to nonspecific stimulation.

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Polymicrobial sepsis alters the adaptive immune response and induces T cell suppression and Th2 immune polarization. We identify a GR-1(+)CD11b(+) population whose numbers dramatically increase and remain elevated in the spleen, lymph nodes, and bone marrow during polymicrobial sepsis. Phenotypically, these cells are heterogeneous, immature, predominantly myeloid progenitors that express interleukin 10 and several other cytokines and chemokines.

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Survivin is a good candidate for cancer immunotherapy since it is overexpressed in most common human cancers, poorly expressed in most normal adult tissues and is essential for cancer cell survival. Previously, we and others have demonstrated that survivin-specific immune responses can be generated in mice and cancer patients. These responses resulted in a substantial antitumor effect.

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