Neuropeptide Y induces potent migration of human immature dendritic cells and promotes a Th2 polarization.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY), a major autonomic nervous system and stress mediator, is emerging as an important regulator of inflammation, implicated in autoimmunity, asthma, atherosclerosis, and cancer. Yet the role of NPY in regulating phenotype and functions of dendritic cells (DCs), the professional antigen-presenting cells, remains undefined. Here we investigated whether NPY could induce DCs to migrate, mature, and polarize naive T lymphocytes.

Cellular and molecular players in the atherosclerotic plaque progression.

Atherosclerosis initiation and progression is controlled by inflammatory molecular and cellular mediators. Cells of innate immunity, stimulated by various endogenous molecules that have undergone a transformation following an oxidative stress or nonenzymatic glycation processes, activate cells of the adaptive immunity, found at the borders of atheromas. In this way, an immune response against endogenous modified antigens takes place and gives rise to chronic low-level inflammation leading to the slow development of complex atherosclerotic plaques.

Heat-shock protein 90: a novel autoantigen in human carotid atherosclerosis.

Unlabelled: The known role of heat-shock proteins (HSPs) in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis prompted us to investigate whether HSP90 is a target autoantigen of immune responses in patients with carotid atherosclerosis.

Methods And Results: The presence of HSP90 on 26 cryostat and 6 paraffin embedded sections of carotid atherosclerotic plaques was determined by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. Plaque-infiltrating T lymphocytes from 9 patients and circulating PBMC from 26 patients and 21 healthy subjects were tested by cell proliferation assay and by flow cytometry and ELISA for cytokine production in response to HSP90.

Folic acid and methionine in the prevention of teratogen-induced congenital defects in mice.

Introduction: Periconceptional supplementation with multivitamins containing folic acid reduces the risk of congenital malformations. We have previously investigated the effect on the murine development of a multiple retinoic acid competitive antagonist, Bristol-Myers-Squibb 189453, showing that treated fetuses were affected with heart defects, thymus aplasia or hypoplasia, and severe anomalies of the central nervous system. Hereby, we analyzed the effects of nutritive therapy involving folic acid and methionine on teratogen-induced congenital defects in mice.

Thioredoxin peroxidase from Echinococcus granulosus: a candidate to extend the antigenic panel for the immunodiagnosis of human cystic echinococcosis.

The currently available tests for the diagnosis of cystic echinococcosis (CE), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and immunoblotting (IB) lack sensitivity and specificity, and antigen panels need standardizing. By screening an Echinococcus granulosus cDNA library with IgG1 from patients with CE, we identified E. granulosus thioredoxin peroxidase (EgTPx).

Heat shock proteins and autoimmunity in patients with carotid atherosclerosis.

Studies aimed at elucidating the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the initiation and progression of human atherosclerosis have emphasized the central role of inflammatory and immune cells. Atherosclerotic plaques are infiltrated by activated macrophages, T and B lymphocytes, plasma cells, and mast cells, releasing inflammatory molecules, which amplify the severity of the disease. Endothelial cells subjected to various stress conditions express increased amounts of heat shock proteins (HSPs), some of the most successfully conserved proteins throughout evolution.