Publications by authors named "Ying Y Yiu"

Over the last decade, more data has revealed that increased surface expression of the "don't eat me" CD47 protein on cancer cells plays a role in immune evasion and tumor progression, with CD47 blockade emerging as a new therapy in immuno-oncology. CD47 is critical in regulating cell homeostasis and clearance, as binding of CD47 to the inhibitory receptor SIRPα can prevent phagocytosis and macrophage-mediated cell clearance. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the CD47-SIRPα signal in platelet homeostasis and clearance.

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CD47 is an important innate immune checkpoint through its interaction with its inhibitory receptor on macrophages, signal-regulatory protein α (SIRPα). Therapeutic blockade of CD47-SIRPα interactions is a promising immuno-oncology treatment that promotes clearance of cancer cells. However, CD47-SIRPα interactions also maintain homeostatic lymphocyte levels.

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CD47 is an antiphagocytic "don't eat me" signal that inhibits programmed cell removal of self. As red blood cells (RBCs) age they lose CD47 expression and become susceptible to programmed cell removal by macrophages. CD47 mice infected with , which exhibits an age-based preference for young RBCs, were previously demonstrated to be highly resistant to malaria infection.

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It is well understood that the adaptive immune response to infectious agents includes a modulating suppressive component as well as an activating component. We now show that the very early innate response also has an immunosuppressive component. Infected cells upregulate the CD47 "don't eat me" signal, which slows the phagocytic uptake of dying and viable cells as well as downstream antigen-presenting cell (APC) functions.

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Prolonged exposure of CD8 T cells to antigenic stimulation, as in chronic viral infections, leads to a state of diminished function termed exhaustion. We now demonstrate that even during exhaustion there is a subset of functional CD8 T cells defined by surface expression of SIRPα, a protein not previously reported on lymphocytes. On SIRPα CD8 T cells, expression of co-inhibitory receptors is counterbalanced by expression of co-stimulatory receptors and it is only SIRPα cells that actively proliferate, transcribe IFNγ and show cytolytic activity.

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Article Synopsis
  • Recent advancements in cancer immunotherapy emphasize the need for deeper understanding of how immune system regulation works in both adaptive and innate cell types.
  • The study identifies that major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC class I), particularly a component called β-microglobulin (β2M), helps cancer cells evade being consumed by immune cells called macrophages.
  • It finds that macrophages express a receptor, LILRB1, which is upregulated in response to MHC class I, and disrupting this signaling pathway enhances the phagocytosis of tumor cells, making it a possible target for new anti-cancer therapies.
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CD47 is a cell surface molecule that inhibits phagocytosis of cells that express it by binding to its receptor, SIRPα, on macrophages and other immune cells. CD47 is expressed at different levels by neoplastic and normal cells. Here, to reveal mechanisms by which different neoplastic cells generate this dominant 'don't eat me' signal, we analyse the CD47 regulatory genomic landscape.

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Soil-transmitted helminths are parasitic nematodes that inhabit the human intestine. These parasites, which include two hookworm species, Ancylostomaduodenale and Necator americanus, the whipworm Trichuristrichiura, and the large roundworm Ascarislumbricoides, infect upwards of two billion people and are a major cause of disease burden in children and pregnant women. The challenge with treating these diseases is that poverty, safety, and inefficient public health policy have marginalized drug development and distribution to control infection in humans.

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Ascaris suum and Ascaris lumbricoides are two closely related geo-helminth parasites that ubiquitously infect pigs and humans, respectively. Ascaris suum infection in pigs is considered a good model for A. lumbricoides infection in humans because of a similar biology and tissue migration to the intestines.

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Background: Hookworm infections are one of the most important parasitic infections of humans worldwide, considered by some second only to malaria in associated disease burden. Single-dose mass drug administration for soil-transmitted helminths, including hookworms, relies primarily on albendazole, which has variable efficacy. New and better hookworm therapies are urgently needed.

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