14-05-2013 | Ye Zhao; Mark T. Gregory; Christian Biertümpfel; Yue-Jin Hua; Fumio Hanaoka; Wei Yang, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

Somatic hypermutation is programmed base substitutions in the variable regions of Ig genes for high-affinity antibody generation. Two motifs, RGYW and WA (R, purine; Y, pyrimidine; W, A or T), have been found to be somatic hypermutation hotspots. Overwhelming evidence suggests that DNA ...

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14-05-2013 | Rebecca Berlant Liu; Boris Engels; Karin Schreiber; Cezary Ciszewski; Andrea Schietinger; Hans Schreiber; Bana Jabri, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

A major challenge of cancer immunotherapy is the persistence and outgrowth of subpopulations that lose expression of the target antigen. IL-15 is a potent cytokine that can promote organ-specific autoimmunity when up-regulated on tissue cells. Here we report that T cells eradicated 2-wk-old ...

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07-05-2013 | Motti Gerlic; Benjamin Faustin; Antonio Postigo; Eric Chi-Wang Yu; Martina Proell; Naran Gombosuren; Maryla Krajewsk ..., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

Host innate immune responses to DNA viruses involve members of the nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich repeat and pyrin domain containing protein (NLRP) family, which form “inflammasomes” that activate caspase-1, resulting in proteolytic activation of cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and ...

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07-05-2013 | Wangko Lundström; Steven Highfill; Scott T. R. Walsh; Stephanie Beq; Elizabeth Morse; Ingrid Kockum; Lars Alfredsson ..., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

Human soluble interleukin-7 receptor (sIL7R)α circulates in high molar excess compared with IL-7, but its biology remains unclear. We demonstrate that sIL7Rα has moderate affinity for IL-7 but does not bind thymic stromal lymphopoietin. Functionally, sIL7Rα competes with cell-associated IL-7 ...

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07-05-2013 | Norihito Kawasaki; Jose Luis Vela; Corwin M. Nycholat; Christoph Rademacher; Archana Khurana; Nico van Rooijen; Paul ..., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells induce a protective immune response triggered by foreign glycolipid antigens bound to CD1d on antigen-presenting cells (APCs). A limitation of using glycolipid antigens to stimulate immune responses in human patients has been the inability to target ...

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07-05-2013 | Yanni Wang; Christy A. Thomson; Lenka L. Allan; Linda M. Jackson; Melanie Olson; Timothy R. Hercus; Tracy L. Nero; A ..., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

The origin of pathogenic autoantibodies remains unknown. Idiopathic pulmonary alveolar proteinosis is caused by autoantibodies against granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). We generated 19 monoclonal autoantibodies against GM-CSF from six patients with idiopathic ...

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30-04-2013 | Can M. Sungur; Yajarayma J. Tang-Feldman; Erik Ames; Maite Alvarez; Mingyi Chen; Dan L. Longo; Claire Pomeroy; Willi ..., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

Natural killer (NK) cells show differential functionality based on their capability of binding to self-MHC consistent with licensing. Here we show in vivo confirmation of the physiologic effects of licensing with differential effects of NK subsets on anti-murine cytomegalovirus (anti-MCMV) ...

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23-04-2013 | Harumichi Ishigame; Lauren A. Zenewicz; Shomyseh Sanjabi; Paula Licona-Limón; Maki Nakayama; Warren J. Leonard; Rich ..., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

TGF-β signaling in T cells is critical for peripheral T-cell tolerance by regulating effector CD4+ T helper (Th) cell differentiation. However, it is still controversial to what extent TGF-β signaling in Foxp3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells contributes to immune homeostasis. Here we showed that ...

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23-04-2013 | Carolyn L. Zawislak; Aimee M. Beaulieu; Gabriel B. Loeb; Jenny Karo; David Canner; Natalie A. Bezman; Lewis L. Lanie ..., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

Natural killer (NK) cells function in the recognition and destruction of host cells infected with pathogens. Many regulatory mechanisms govern the potent responses of NK cells, both at the cellular and molecular level. Ablation of microRNA (miRNA) processing enzymes demonstrated that miRNAs ...

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23-04-2013 | Yan Xing; Stephen C. Jameson; Kristin A. Hogquist, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences current issue, 2013

Cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTECs) express a unique thymoproteasome subunit-β5T that plays an essential role in the development of CD8 T cells. In contrast, the immunoproteasome subunit-β5i is expressed in other thymic antigen-presenting cells (APCs). The thymoproteasome may generate ...

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