Published in Immunity
Primary T cell activation involves the integration of three distinct signals delivered in sequence: (1) antigen recognition, (2) costimulation, and (3) cytokine-mediated differentiation and expansion. Strong immunostimulatory events such as immunotherapy or infection induce profound cytokine release causing "bystander" T cell activation, thereby in...
Published in Journal of Virology
Glycoprotein D (gD) is a structural component of the herpes simplex virus (HSV) envelope which is essential for virus entry into host cells. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells are one of the few cell types which are nonpermissive for the entry of many HSV strains. However, when these cells are transformed with the gene for the herpesvirus entry m...
Published in Journal of Neuroscience
Axonal loss is the principal cause of chronic disability in multiple sclerosis and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). In C57BL/6 mice with EAE induced by immunization with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide 35-55, the first evidences of axonal damage in spinal cord were in acute subpial and perivascular foci of infiltrating n...
Published in Journal of Neuroimmunology
Studies in multiple sclerosis and its animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) suggest that peripheral monocyte-derived cells (MDCs) are instrumental for disease initiation. MDCs, however, are plastic, and may exert various functions once in the central nervous system (CNS) for prolonged periods. Furthermore, the long-term effec...
Published in Toxicology Letters
Our previous studies showed oral gavage of aflatoxin G₁ (AFG₁) induced lung adenocarcinoma in NIH mice. We recently found that a single intratracheal administration of AFG₁ caused chronic inflammatory changes in rat alveolar septum. Here, we examine whether oral gavage of AFG₁ induces chronic lung inflammation and how it contributes to carcinogenes...
Published in Immunologic Research
The third component of the complement system, C3, is a common denominator in the activation of the classical, alternative, and lectin pathways. The ability of C3 molecule to interact with at least 20 different proteins makes it the most versatile component of this system. Since these interactions are important for phagocytic, immunoregulatory, and ...
Published in Wound Repair and Regeneration
Impaired healing after severe burns remains a reason for prolonged hospitalization, opportunistic infections, and debilitating scarring. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is an important immune regulator that has been shown to inhibit collagen synthesis by fibroblasts, resulting in delayed healing in incision wounds. To determine whether IFN-γ plays similar...
Published in The Journal of Immunology
We have previously identified a 13-residue cyclic peptide, Compstatin, that binds to complement component C3 and inhibits complement activation. Herein, we describe the binding kinetics, structure-activity relationship, and biotransformation of Compstatin. Biomolecular interaction analysis using surface-plasmon resonance showed that Compstatin boun...
Published in Molecular Immunology
Compstatin is a peptidic complement inhibitor that prevents the cleavage of complement factor 3 (C3) by C3 convertase. Compstatin differs from other C3-regulatory proteins, such as complement receptor (CR) 1 and decay-accelerating factor (DAF), in that it binds native as well as activated C3 fragments and acts through mechanisms that do not involve...
Published in Journal of Biological Chemistry
Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several central nervous system (CNS) disorders. However, the role of PARP-1 in autoimmune CNS injury remains poorly understood. Therefore, we studied experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model for multiple sclerosis in mice with a targeted deletion of PA...
