Preeclampsia (PE), as a pregnancy-specific syndrome, has become one of the main causes of maternal and fetal mortality worldwide and is known as a major risk factor for preterm birth. PE is typically characterized by hypertension, significant proteinuria, and an excessive maternal systemic inflammatory response. Recent evidences provide support for the notion that Natural killer T (NKT) cells (a small, but significant immunoregulatory T cell subset of human peripheral blood lymphocytes) play pivotal roles in pregnancy. NKT cells with unique transcriptional and cytokine profiles exist in different peripheral tissues acting as mediators between the innate and adaptive immune systems. NKT cells secrete Interleukin-4 (IL-4) and Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) which might regulate the balance between Type 1T helper (Th1) and Type 2T helper (Th2) responses. During pregnancy, maternal immunity is biased towards type II cytokine production to inhibit the function of type I cytokines that could be harmful for the developing fetus. This shift to type II cytokines does not occur in preeclamptic patients. In this review, we discuss the numbers, phenotype, changes, and the functional activity of Natural killer T (NKT) cells during normal pregnancy and preeclampsia.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2017.08.077 | DOI Listing |
J Hematol Oncol
January 2025
Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117600, Singapore.
The tumor microenvironment (TME) is integral to cancer progression, impacting metastasis and treatment response. It consists of diverse cell types, extracellular matrix components, and signaling molecules that interact to promote tumor growth and therapeutic resistance. Elucidating the intricate interactions between cancer cells and the TME is crucial in understanding cancer progression and therapeutic challenges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis
January 2025
Department of Medical Microbiology, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. Electronic address:
Recent studies have indicated that the GIMAP family is downregulated in lung cancer and correlates with poor prognosis, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the mechanism behind GIMAP1 downregulation in lung cancer. Bioinformatics tools were employed to assess the correlation between the GIMAP family and various cancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChin J Cancer Res
December 2024
Department of Oncology, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, Henan Engineering Research Center of Precision Therapy of Gastrointestinal Cancer and Zhengzhou Key Laboratory for Precision Therapy of Gastrointestinal Cancer, Zhengzhou 450008, China.
Gastric cancer (GC) ranks 3rd in incidence rate and mortality rate among malignant tumors in China, and the age-standardized five-year net survival rate of patients with GC was 35.9% from 2010 to 2014. The tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), which includes T cells, macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells and B cells, significantly affects tumor progression, immunosuppression and drug resistance in patients with GC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Commun Signal
January 2025
Department of Musculoskeletal Tumor, Peking University People's Hospital, No. 11 Xizhimen South Street, Beijing, 100044, China.
Background: Ewing's sarcoma (EwS), a common pediatric bone cancer, is associated with poor survival due to a lack of therapeutic targets for immunotherapy or targeted therapy. Therefore, more effective treatment options are urgently needed.
Methods: Since novel immunotherapies may address this need, we performed an integrative analysis involving single-cell RNA sequencing, cell function experiments, and humanized models to dissect the immunoregulatory interactions in EwS and identify strategies for optimizing immunotherapeutic efficacy.
J Immunother Cancer
January 2025
Center for Advanced Innate Cell Therapy, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
The ability of immune cells to expand numerically after infusion distinguishes adoptive immunotherapies from traditional drugs, providing unique therapeutic advantages as well as the potential for unmanageable toxicities. Here, we describe a case of lethal hyperleukocytosis in a patient with neuroblastoma treated on phase 1 clinical trial (NCT03294954) with autologous natural killer T cells (NKTs) expressing a GD2-specific chimeric antigen receptor and cytokine interleukin 15 (GD2-CAR.15).
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