Ovalbumin encapsulation into liposomes results in distinct degrees of oral immunization in mice.

Oral administration of protein antigens, such as ovalbumin, may result in induction of either tolerance or immunization. To avoid oral tolerance, there are new strategies to protect the antigens from degradation within the gastrointestinal tract and to allow them to reach inductive immunological sites. One such strategy is the usage of liposomes.

Identification of SPAM messages using an approach inspired on the immune system.

In this paper, an immune-inspired model, named innate and adaptive artificial immune system (IA-AIS) is proposed and applied to the problem of identification of unsolicited bulk e-mail messages (SPAM). It integrates entities analogous to macrophages, B and T lymphocytes, modeling both the innate and the adaptive immune systems. An implementation of the algorithm was capable of identifying more than 99% of legitimate or SPAM messages in particular parameter configurations.

Covalent coupling of palmitate to ovalbumin inhibits and blocks the induction of oral tolerance.

Oral tolerance is a phenomenon that may occur in animals exposed to soluble antigens for the first time by the oral route. In the present study, we show that oral tolerance against ovalbumin (Ova) can be obtained after intragastric administration of the antigen in the presence of free residues of palmitate. On the other hand, oral tolerance induction is blocked when the residues of palmitate are covalently bound to the antigen (Ova-palmitate conjugates).

Arrested B lymphopoiesis and persistence of activated B cells in adult interleukin 7(-/)- mice.

Interleukin 7 is a crucial factor for the development of murine T and B lymphocytes. We now report that, in the absence of interleukin 7, B lymphocyte production takes place exclusively during fetal and perinatal life, ceasing after 7 wk of age. In peripheral organs, however, the pool of B lymphocytes is stable throughout adult life and consists only of cells that belong to the B1 and marginal zone (MZ) compartments.

Involvement of regional lymph nodes after penetration of Schistosoma mansoni cercariae in naive and infected mice.

The parotid lymph nodes of naive and previously infected Balb/c mice were studied after, respectively, infection and re-infection with cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni via the ears. Schistosomula were able to pass through the lymph node by following the lymph flow or by penetrating the veins of the medullary cords. The number of nodal mast cells was higher from day 2 to 6 of primary infection; and from day 5 to 11 of re-infection.