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Elizabeth A. Perkins;
Dawn Landis;
Zenoria L. Causey;
Yuanqing Edberg;
Richard J. Reynolds;
Laura B. Hughes;
Doyt L Conn;
Peter K. Gregersen;
Robert P. Kimberly;
Jeffrey C. Edberg;
S. Louis Bridges, Jr.
Objective:
We previously reported an analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in three validated European rheumatoid arthritis (RA) susceptibility loci, TAGAP, TNFAIP3, and CCR6 in African-Americans with RA. Unexpectedly, the disease-associated alleles were different in African-Americans than in Europeans. In an effort to better define their contribution, we performed additional SNP genotyping in these genes.
Methods:
Seven SNPs were genotyped in 446 African Americans with RA and 733 African American controls. Differences in minor allele frequency between cases and controls were analyzed after controlling for global proportion of European admixture, and pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) was estimated among the SNPs.
Results:
Three SNPs were significantly associated with RA: TNFAIP3 rs719149 A allele (OR (95% CI) 1.22 (1.03–1.44) (p =0.02); TAGAP rs1738074 G allele OR 0.75 (0.63–0.89), (p =0.0012); and TAGAP rs4709267 G allele 0.74 (0.60–0.91), (p =0.004). Pairwise LD between the TAGAP SNPs was low (R2=0.034). The haplotype containing minor alleles for both TAGAP SNPs was uncommon (4.5%). After conditional analysis on each TAGAP SNP, its counterpart remained significantly associated with RA (rs1738074 for rs4709267 p=0.00001; rs4709267 for rs1738074 p=0.00005), suggesting independent effects.
Conclusions:
SNPs in regulatory regions of TAGAP and an intronic SNP (TNFAIP3) are potential susceptibility loci in African Americans. Pairwise LD, haplotype analysis, and SNP conditioning analysis suggest that these two SNPs in TAGAP are independent susceptibility alleles. Additional fine mapping of this gene and functional genomic studies of these SNPs should provide additional insight into the role of these genes in RA.
In a Perspective, Julie Garon and Walter Orenstein discuss Lessler and colleagues' modeling study on measles vaccination and the implications for triggered and routine immunization programs.
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Yugo Ando;
Guo-Xiang Yang;
Masanobu Tsuda;
Kazuhito Kawata;
Weici Zhang;
Takahiko Nakajima;
Koichi Tsuneyama;
Patrick Leung;
Zhe-Xiong Lian;
Kazuichi Okazaki;
William M. Ridgway;
Gary L. Norman;
Aftab A Ansari;
Xiao-Song He;
Ross L. Coppel;
M. Eric Gershwin
dnTGFβRII mice, expressing a dominant negative form of TGFβ receptor II under control of the CD4 promoter, develop autoimmune colitis and cholangitis . We previously observed that deficiency in IL-12p40 led to a marked diminution of inflammation in both the colon and the liver. To distinguish whether IL-12p40 mediated protection acted via the IL-12 or IL-23 pathways, we generated an IL-23p19−/− dnTGFβRII strain deficient in IL-23 but not in IL-12; mice were longitudinally followed for changes in the natural history of disease and immune responses. Interestingly, IL-23p19−/− mice demonstrate dramatic improvement in their colitis but no changes in biliary pathology; mice also manifest reduced Th17 cell populations and unchanged IFN-γ levels. We submit that the IL-12/Th1 pathway is essential for biliary disease pathogenesis, while the IL-23/Th17 pathway mediates colitis. To further assess the mechanism of the IL-23 mediated protection from colitis, we generated an IL-17A−/− dnTGFβRII strain deficient in IL-17, a major effector cytokine produced by IL-23-dependent Th17 cells. Deletion of the IL-17A gene did not affect the severity of either cholangitis or colitis, suggesting that the IL-23/Th17 pathway contributes to the colon disease in an IL-17-independent manner. These results affirm that the IL-12/Th1 pathway is critical to biliary pathology in dnTGFβRII mice while the colitis is caused by a direct effect of IL-23.
In their article, “Immunomodulation as treatment for severe COVID-19: a systematic review of current modalities and future directions,” Meyerowitz and colleagues provide a straightforward source of information for the clinician [1]. In a time when we are flooded with preprints and publications of varying quality, one of the most critical challenges is to separate the grain from the chaff. The authors have done this for us by reviewing hundreds of references and carefully selecting the most appropriate sources of information. Their article helps us forge our conclusions not only for the use of the different immunomodulatory treatments available but importantly also on the rationale of their use.
Recent studies have suggested the potential of probiotic organisms to be adapted for the synthesis and delivery of oral therapeutics. The probiotic yeast Saccharomyces boulardii would be especially well suited for this purpose due to its ability, in contrast to probiotic prokaryotes, to perform eukaryotic post translational modifications. This probiotic yeast thus has the potential to express a broad array of therapeutic proteins. Currently, however, use of wild type (WT) S. boulardii relies on antibiotic resistance for the selection of transformed yeast. Here we report the creation of auxotrophic mutant strains of S. boulardii that can be selected without antibiotics and demonstrate that these yeast can express functional recombinant protein even when recovered from gastrointestinal immune tissues in mice. A UV mutagenesis approach was employed to generate three uracil auxotrophic S. boulardii mutants that show a low rate of reversion to wild type growth. These mutants can express recombinant protein and are resistant in vitro to low pH, bile acid salts, and anaerobic conditions. Critically, oral gavage experiments using C57BL/6 mice demonstrate that mutant S. boulardii survive and are taken up into gastrointestinal immune tissues on a similar level as WT S. boulardii. Mutant yeast recovered from gastrointestinal immune tissues furthermore retain expression of functional recombinant protein. These data show that auxotrophic mutant S. boulardii can safely express recombinant protein without antibiotic selection and can deliver recombinant protein to gastrointestinal immune tissues. These auxotrophic mutants of S. boulardii pave the way for future experiments to test the ability of S. boulardii to deliver therapeutics and mediate protection against gastrointestinal disorders.
Psychosocial stress has been shown to prime peripheral innate immune cells, which take on hyper-inflammatory phenotypes and are implicated in depressive-like behavior in mouse models. However, the impact of stress on cellular metabolic states that are thought to fuel inflammatory phenotypes in immune cells are unknown. Using single cell RNA-sequencing, we investigated mRNA enrichment of immunometabolic pathways in innate immune cells of the spleen in mice subjected to repeated social defeat stress (RSDS) or no stress (NS). RSDS mice displayed a significant increase in the number of splenic macrophages and granulocytes (p < 0.05) compared to NS littermates. RSDS-upregulated genes in macrophages, monocytes, and granulocytes significantly enriched immunometabolic pathways thought to play a role in myeloid-driven inflammation (glycolysis, HIF-1 signaling, MTORC1 signaling) as well as pathways related to oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and oxidative stress (p < 0.05 and FDR<0.1). These results suggest that the metabolic enhancement reflected by upregulation of glycolytic and OXPHOS pathways may be important for cellular proliferation of splenic macrophages and granulocytes following repeated stress exposure. A better understanding of these intracellular metabolic mechanisms may ultimately help develop novel strategies to reverse the impact of stress and associated peripheral immune changes on the brain and behavior.
There is a well-established link between experiencing adversity such as trauma and chronic stress and altered immune function and heightened disease risk (Dhabhar, 2009). Multiple studies have shown that a history of sexual abuse, particularly childhood sexual abuse (CSA), is associated with both elevated systemic inflammation (Lo Iacono et al., 2021), as well as altered immune metrics of the reproductive tract and increased risk for sexually transmitted and other reproductive tract infections (Ghosh et al., 2018). These studies have provided insight into complex neuroendocrine and psycho-behavioral mechanisms that underlie trauma-related pathophysiology. However, beyond changes in mental health and high-risk sexual behaviors as potential mediators, the physiological mechanisms linking sexual trauma to increased vulnerability to reproductive pathology are not well understood.
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Patricia J. Campbell;
Constantinos S. Kyriakis;
Nicolle Marshall;
Suganthi Suppiah;
Jill Seladi-Schulman;
Shamika Danzy;
Anice Carmen Lowen;
John Steel
Glioblastomas (GBMs) are the most common and aggressive primary brain tumors. Due to their malignant growth and invasion into the brain parenchyma coupled with resistance to therapy, GBMs are among the deadliest of all cancers. GBMs are highly heterogeneous at both the molecular and histological levels. Hallmark histological structures include pseudopalisading necrosis and microvascular proliferation. In addition to high levels of intratumoral heterogeneity, GBMs also exhibit high levels of inter-tumoral heterogeneity. The major non-neoplastic cell population in the GBM microenvironment includes cells of the innate immune system called tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Correlative data from the literature suggest that molecularly distinct GBM subtypes exhibit differences in their microenvironment. Data from mouse models of GBM suggest that genetic driver mutations can create unique microenvironments. Here, we review the origin, features, and functions of TAMs in distinct GBM subtypes. We also discuss their interactions with other immune cell constituents and discuss prospects of therapeutically targeting TAMs to increase the efficacy of T-cell functions.
The regenerative abilities and the immunosuppressive properties of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) make them potentially the ideal cellular product of choice for treatment of autoimmune and other immune mediated disorders. Although the usefulness of MSCs for therapeutic applications is in early phases, their potential clinical use remains of great interest. Current clinical evidence of use of MSCs from both autologous and allogeneic sources to treat autoimmune disorders confers conflicting clinical benefit outcomes. These varied results may possibly be due to MSC use across wide range of autoimmune disorders with clinical heterogeneity or due to variability of the cellular product. In the light of recent genome wide association studies (GWAS), linking predisposition of autoimmune diseases to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the susceptible genetic loci, the clinical relevance of MSCs possessing SNPs in the critical effector molecules of immunosuppression is largely undiscussed. It is of further interest in the allogeneic setting, where SNPs in the target pathway of MSC's intervention may also modulate clinical outcome. In the present review, we have discussed the known critical SNPs predisposing to disease susceptibility in various autoimmune diseases and their significance in the immunomodulatory properties of MSCs.