Young-il Hwang

Seoul National University | SNU

Biodistribution and engraftment assays for administered human cells in animal organs must be performed to ensure the safety and efficacy of the human cells in preclinical studies. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is currently the standard method used to detect Alu DNA elements. The recently developed droplet digital PCR (d...

Background and objectives: Many preclinical studies have been conducted using animal disease models to determine the effectiveness of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) for treating immune and inflammatory diseases based on the belief that hMSCs are not immunogenic across species. However, several researchers have suggested xenogeneic immune res...

Tendinopathy, the most common disorder affecting tendons, is characterized by chronic disorganization of the tendon matrix, which leads to tendon tear and rupture. The goal was to identify a rational molecular target whose blockade can serve as a potential therapeutic intervention for tendinopathy. We identified C1q/TNF-related protein-3 (CTRP3) as...

Three layers of meninges, the pia mater, the arachnoid membrane, and the dura mater from inside out envelop the brain and the spinal cord. The relationship between these meninges and surrounding structures is somewhat different in the brain and spinal cord. In particular, understanding of the anatomical relationship in the spinal cord region is ine...

We investigated changes in the cranial/cephalic index of the Korean population in millennia, centuries, and recent decades. Secular changes of Korean’s cephalic index in history were studied using the data of archaeology literature and our measurement data of different adult skull sets for the fifteenth–nineteenth century Joseon people, the Korean...

SB365, a saponin D extracted from the roots of Pulsatilla koreana, has been reported to show cytotoxicity in several cancer cell lines. We investigated the effects of SB365 on U87-MG and T98G glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells, and its efficacy in combination with temozolomide for treating GBM. SB365 exerted a cytotoxic effect on GBM cells not by...

To address the problems associated with crowding in dissection laboratory, especially for dissections of the head and neck region, we adopted an alternate dissection strategy and explored its effects on student learning, and student perceptions of the approach. The alternate dissection approach was first introduced at our institution for dissection...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are of therapeutic importance in the fields of regenerative medicine and immunological diseases. Accordingly, studies evaluating MSCs for clinical applications are increasing. In this study, we characterized MSCs from the periodontal ligament, umbilical cord (UC-MSCs), and adipose tissue, which were relatively easy to...

Figure 1: flow cytometric profiles of the data presented in Figure 2. Panel A shows dose-dependent inhibition of PBMC proliferation by MSCs, and panel B shows the recovery of PBMC proliferation in the presence of an inhibitor of IDO or COX-2 or both inhibitors. The experiment was performed independently three times, and representative profiles are...

Figure 3: inhibitory role of HLA-G on activated T-cell proliferation. Flow cytometric profiles for the graph depicted in Figure 5(c). T-cell proliferation assay was performed using CFSE-loaded PBMCs in the presence of neutralizing anti-HLA-G antibody (αHLA-G Ab) or isotype control antibody (IgG2a). All experiments were performed independently at le...

Figure 2: expression of COX-2 and IDO in MSCs. (A) Expression of COX-2 and IDO in MSCs after treatment with conditioned media (CM) for 1 day. RPS18 was used as a control gene. To obtain CM, PBMCs were stimulated with different T-cell stimulants for 3 days, including phorbol myristate acetate (10 ng/mL) and ionomycin (50 ng/mL) (PMA/I), lipopolysacc...

Recent studies show that IL-22, a cytokine produced by activated CD4⁺ T cells and NK cells, plays a pathogenic role in acute and chronic skin diseases. While IL-22 is produced by immune cells, the expression of IL-22Rα, the functional subunit of IL-22R, is mostly restricted to non-hematopoietic cells in organs such as the skin and pancreas. Althoug...

Supplementary materials. (DOCX)

The role of specific signaling pathways in UVB-induced IL-22Rα expression in HaCaT cells. (A) HaCaT cells were pre-treated with DMSO (vehicle control), SB203580 (20 μM), SP600125 (20 μM), PD98059 (20 μM), LY294002 (10 μM), or Bay11-7082 (5 μM) for 1 h and then irradiated with 100 J/m2 UVB. After 6 h, total RNA was extracted for RT-PCR analysis with...

Supplementary materials. (DOCX)

The production of IL-22 by UVB-irradiated PBMCs. PBMCs isolated from healthy donors were seeded onto inserts (0.4 μm pore size) in a 6-well plate. Then, the cells were irradiated with 100, 150, or 200 J/m2 UVB. After 48 h, culture supernatants were collected for the measurement of IL-22 production by ELISA. (TIF)

The sural nerve, a cutaneous nerve, is clinically important because it is frequently for nerve conduction testing, biopsy, and harvesting for nerve grafts. This nerve exhibits a wide variety of variation in formation, distribution on the dorsum of the foot, and so on, depending on the population observed. In this study, we examined the variation in...

Acellular dermal matrix (ADM) is frequently used in implant-based breast reconstruction. Although there are several advantages, ADM implantation also increases the risk of certain complications. Recently, ADM seeded with adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) were shown to induce angiogenesis and improve wound healing. This study aimed to investigate t...

The caudal cell mass (CCM) is known as the main player in secondary neurulation, forming the secondary neural tube (2NT). This suggests that the CCM may have the character of neural progenitor cells. The neural potential of the CCM and the 2NT (CCM + 2NT) was assessed by in vitro culture of neurospheres during Hamburger and Hamilton stages (HH) of...

GV1001 is a telomerase-based cancer vaccine made of a 16-mer telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) peptide, and human TERT, the rate-limiting subunit of the telomerase complex, is an attractive target for cancer vaccination. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of telomerase peptide vaccination, GV1001 combined with gemcitabine in tre...

Vitamin C is an essential micronutrient that affects immune responses. T cells are one of the main players in acquired immunity and have been reported to be influenced by in vivo vitamin C supplementation. Yet, the way by which T cells uptake vitamin C and what direct effects vitamin C exerts on the cells are not known. To elucidate, we isolated hu...

IL-22 is a pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine that is mainly produced by T cells and NK cells. Recent studies have reported the increased number of IL-22 producing T cells in patients with autoimmune noninfectious uveitis; however, the correlation between IL-22 and uveitis remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to determine the specific role of...

P38 MAPK and NK-κB dependent proliferation of ARPE-19 cells treated with rIL-22. (TIF)

Supplementary Materials. (PDF)

Objectives: Because red ginseng and vitamin C have immunomodulatory function and anti-viral effect, we investigated whether red ginseng and vitamin C synergistically regulate immune cell function and suppress viral infection. Methods: Red ginseng and vitamin C were treated to human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or sarcoma-associated...

The mechanism of Western medicine that is commonly used for pain relief is well-known. However, very little is known for oriental herbs, and even less is known for mixture of the two. We investigated the combinational effect of 3 kinds of oriental herbs, usually used for the control of headache, and acetaminophen to relieve headache in microglia ce...

CCRT (concomitant chemotherapy and radiation therapy) is often used for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment after surgical therapy, however, patients treated with CCRT undergo poor prognosis due to development of treatment resistant recurrence. Many studies have been performed to overcome these problems and to discover genes influencing treatme...

GV1001 is a peptide derived from the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) sequence that is reported to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects. Enolase1 (ENO1) is a glycolytic enzyme, and stimulation of this enzyme induces high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines from concanavalin A (Con A)-activated peripheral blood mononuclear c...

The decreased genes by Scutellaria baicalensis treatment in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV2 cells

The increased genes by Scutellaria baicalensis treatment in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV2 cells

The expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in BV2 cells. The transcriptional expression of TLR4 in BV2 cells was examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. C6, an astrocytoma cell line, was used as a positive control for TLR4. β-Actin was used as an internal control.

It has recently been reported that the CD40-CD40 ligand (CD40L) interaction is important in Th17 development. In addition, transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) promotes tumorigenesis as an immunosuppressive cytokine and is crucial in the development of Th17 cells. This study investigated the role of CD40 in breast cancer cells and its role in im...

The developing brain of a neonate is particularly susceptible to damage by vitamin C deficiency because of its rapid growth and immature antioxidant system. Cognitive impairment and sensory motor deficits are found in the adult brain upon vitamin C deficiency. Therefore, the aim of this study was to clarify the role of vitamin C in its own right an...

We evaluated the therapeutic effect of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAd-MSCs) in a SKG arthritis model, a relevant animal model for human rheumatoid arthritis. hAd-MSCs were administered intraperitoneally into the mice for five consecutive days from on day 12 or 34 after arthritis induction, when the average clinical score w...

It is recently reported that CD40-CD40 ligand (CD40L) interaction is important to Th17 development. Also, it is known that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) promotes tumorigenesis as an immunosuppressive cytokine and is crucial for the development of Th17. In this study, we investigated the role of CD40 on breast cancer cells and its role on...

Vitamin C has been found to stimulate dendritic cells (DCs) to secrete more IL-12 and thereby drive naïve CD4+ T cells to differentiate into Th1 cells. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of these vitamin C-treated DCs on CD8+ T cell differentiation both in vitro and in vivo. Mouse bone marrow-derived DCs were prepared in the presence of...

Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) is a ubiquitous enzyme involved in diverse biological processes. Recently, its function in adaptive immune responses has begun to emerge. Its presence and functions in B cells and T cells, for example, have been reported. However, those in dendritic cells (DCs), the principal antigen-presenting cells, are as yet unexplored...

Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) has been reported to play a role in dendritic cell activation and B cell differentiation after immunization. Its presence and role in T cells, however, has not been explored. In the present study, we determined the expression of TG2 on mouse T cells, and evaluated its role by comparing the behaviors of wild-type and TG2(-/-...

Surface marker expression of the cells grown in EBM-2 media or in mixed media (EBM-2:DMEM=1:4). After established in each medium, human adipose tissue-derived cells were stained with antibodies against (A) hematopoietic markers (CD34, CD45, and CD117) and (B) positive markers for stem cells (CD29, CD44, CD90, and CD105). Two groups of cells did not...

Confluent human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAd-MSCs) were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and were stained for adipocytes (D; Oil Red-O), chondrocytes (E; Alcian blue), or osteoblasts (F; Alizarin red S) before the induction of cell differentiation (A-C). Minimal staining for each cell type was observed. Photos in the lower panel...

Expression of immunomodulatory enzymes of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAd-MSCs). (A) hAd-MSCs were stimulated with peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) supernatant that was pretreated with an antibody against a specific cytokine, as indicated in the Figure for 24 hours. Cells were harvested, total RNA was extracted, and...

Although pathogenesis of human rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains unclear, arthritogenic T cells and downstream signaling mediators have been shown to play critical roles. An increasing numbers of therapeutic options have been added for the effective control of RA. Nevertheless, there is still a category of patients that fails treatment and suffers...

The L-gulono-γ-lactone oxidase gene (Gulo) encodes an essential enzyme in the synthesis of ascorbic acid from glucose. On the basis of previous findings of bone abnormalities in Gulo (-/-) mice under conditions of ascorbic acid insufficiency, we investigated the effect of ascorbic acid insufficiency on factors related to bone metabolism in Gulo (-/...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) of human origin have been frequently applied to experimental animal models to evaluate their immunomodulatory functions. MSCs are known to be activated by cytokines from T cells, predominantly by interferon-γ (IFN-γ), in conjunction with other cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interlukin-1β. Because...

Given the involvement of oxidative stress in liver-disease- or hepato-toxicant-induced hepatic damage and fibrosis, antioxidants are an effective preventive and therapeutic tool. The beneficial results of vitamin C, one of the physiological antioxidants, have been observed both in experimental animals and in humans. However, most of these studies h...

It is thought that vitamin C has protective roles on stress-induced heart damages and the development of cardiovascular diseases, but its precise role and mechanisms are unclear. In the present study, we investigated the specific mechanisms by which vitamin C leads to protect heart from stress-induced damage in the Gulo(-/-) mice which cannot synth...

Among medical education institutions worldwide, the time allotted for anatomy instruction has decreased without any reasonable time optimization suggestions. In addition, the utility of cadaver dissection has long been debated. Herein, we surveyed students' perceptions of anatomy education with respect to time and hands-on cadaver dissection, at Se...

L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is one of the well-known anti-viral agents, especially to influenza virus. Since the in vivo anti-viral effect is still controversial, we investigated whether vitamin C could regulate influenza virus infection in vivo by using Gulo (-/-) mice, which cannot synthesize vitamin C like humans. First, we found that vitamin C-...

Aim: l-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) insufficiency is considered one of the major risk factors for the development of liver disease. However, its specific effects and related mechanisms in vivo are largely unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate the in vivo protective role of vitamin C and its related mechanisms in liver injury with Gu...

Alloferon is a novel immunomodulatory peptide originally isolated from infected insects. It has anti-viral and anti-tumor effects via the activation of NK cells. However, specific mechanisms leading to NK cell activation and anti-tumor responses yet to be clarified. In this study, we demonstrate that alloferon increases killing activity of NK cells...

Vitamin C is an essential water-soluble nutrient which primarily exerts its effect on host defense mechanisms and immune homeostasis, but the mechanism related to immune-potentiation is poorly understood. Since dendritic cells (DCs) are known as a potent antigen presenting cell (APC) that could enhance the antigen specific immune responses, we inve...

The purpose of this study was to obtain anatomical measurements of the distal tibia and talus of Korean ankles and to evaluate, based on those measurements, the compatibility of the HINTEGRA prostheses in the context of total ankle replacement (TAR). We measured the length, width, height, and angles of the distal tibia and talus of 51 cadavers and...

UVB irradiation can induce biological changes in the skin, modulate immune responses and activate inflammatory reactions leading to skin damage. Alloferon, which is isolated from the blood of an experimentally infected insect, the blow fly Calliphora vicina, is known for its anti-viral and anti-tumor activities in mice model. However, the effect of...

L-ascorbate (L-ascorbic acid, vitamin C) clearly has an inhibitory effect on cancer cells. However, the mechanism underlying differential sensitivity of cancer cells from same tissue to L-ascorbate is yet to be clarified. Here, we demonstrate that L-ascorbate has a selective killing effect, which is influenced by sodium-dependent vitamin C transpor...

Tansglutaminase 2 (TG2) mediates post-translational modifications of proteins that are involved in a variety of biological processes. Previous reports suggest an involvement of TG2 in adaptive immune responses. However, little has been elucidated in this regard. We explored, in this study, the role of TG2 in humoral immune response to keyhole limpe...

α-Enolase (ENO1) is a multifunctional glycolytic enzyme expressed abundantly in the cytosol. It has been implicated in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Serum Abs against ENO1 were reported in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Cell-surface expression of ENO1 has been found to be increased rapidly in response to inflammatory stimuli, but its expression...

Deficiency of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is thought to be contributed to the pathogenesis of liver diseases. To clarify the role of vitamin C in protection from liver injury, we induced concanavalin A (Con A)-mediated hepatitis in vitamin C-insufficient gulo-/- mice, which cannot synthesize vitamin C like humans. In Con A-treated vitamin C-insuffici...

Interleukin 22 (IL-22), a member of IL-10 family, is a potent mediator of inflammatory responses. It is produced by activated CD4+ T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, but its receptor expression is restricted to nonhematopoietic cells in the skin, pancreas, intestine, liver, lung and kidney. IL-22 suppresses IL-4 production from Th2 cells and in...

Statural growth in human populations is a sensitive indicator of socio-economic well-being, and improvements in socio-economic status are reflected in secular increases in adult height. In the present study, we investigated the statures of historical Korean societies to show how stature changed over time. Applying Fujii's equation, derived from mod...

Cadaver dissection is a key component of anatomy education. Unfortunately, students sometimes regard the process of dissection as uninteresting or stressful. To make laboratory time more interesting and to encourage discussion and collaborative learning among medical students, specially designed tasks were assigned to students throughout dissection...

Little is known about the cellular characteristics of CD8(+) T cells in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We addressed this by investigating whether the frequency of the CD8(+) T cell subsets and their phenotypic characteristics are altered in the peripheral blood and synovial fluid (SF) from patients with RA. In this study, CD8(+) T cells, mainly CD45RA(...

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for maintaining human life. Vitamin C insufficiency in the plasma is closely related with the development of scurvy. However, in vivo kinetics of vitamin C regarding its storage and consumption is still largely unknown. We used Gulo(-/-) mice, which cannot synthesize vitamin C like human. Vitamin C level in plasma...

CM1 (centrocyte/-blast marker 1) was defined by a mAb against concanavalin A (Con A) activated PBMC. It is expressed in germinal center of human tonsil and on the surface of activated PBMC as well as cancer cells. Recently, increased productions of pro-inflammatory mediators were detected from activated PBMC by CM1 ligation. However, there is a lim...

It is known that vitamin C induces apoptosis in several kinds of tumor cells, but its effect on the regulation of the angiogenic process of tumors is not completely studied. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the most well-known angiogenic factor, and it has a potent function as a stimulator of endothelial survival, migration, as well as...

Alloferon, an immunomodulatory peptide, has antiviral capability against herpesvirus. In this research, we aimed to investigate the effect of alloferon on the regulation of the life cycle of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), and its mechanisms. We also assessed the antiviral activity of alloferon on natural killer (NK) cells as an ear...

Asthma is a Th2-dependent disease mediated by IgE and Th2 cytokines, and asthmatic patients suffer from oxidative stresses from abnormal airway inflammation. Vitamin C is a micro-nutrient functioning as an antioxidant. When administered at a mega-dose, vitamin C has been reported to shift immune responses toward Th1. Thus, we tried to determine whe...

Vitamin C has been reported to shift immune responses toward Th1. In this study, we evaluated whether this effect was by way of dendritic cells. Murine dendritic cells (DCs) were prepared from bone marrow precursors. DCs treated with vitamin C secreted an increased amount of IL-12p70 after activation with LPS. These cells rendered naïve T cells to...

The glycoprotein carcinoembryonic-antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) is a membrane-bound protein found in microvilli of the apical colon cell surface. Recently, It was reported that signal transduction through the cytoplasmic domains appears to be important for the tumor suppressor function of CEACAM1 and also apoptosis induction in...

We have found two subsets of human CD8+ T cells expressing IL-7Rαhigh and IL-7Rαlow with different cell survival responses to IL-7. These IL-7Rαlow memory CD8+ T cells that produce effector cytokines and perforin have impaired survival in response to IL-7. Although these CD8+ T cell subsets fail to respond to TCR triggering, the mechanism for this...

Vitamin C scavenges toxic free radicals as an antioxidant, and oxidative stress is considered as a major contributor inducing damage to cardiomyocytes in heart diseases. Also, it is well-known that stress provokes oxidative stress and induces cardiac sudden death. Here we show the effects of vitamin C on the prevention of cardiac damage by stress i...

The forkhead transcription factor, Foxp3, is thought to act as a master regulator that controls (suppresses) expression of the breast cancer oncogenes, SKP2 and HER-2/ErbB2. However, the mechanisms that regulate Foxp3 expression and thereby modulate tumor development remain largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that Foxp3 up-regulation requires...

Vitamin C, one of essential micronutrients, has been reported to modulate the humoral immune responses in some mammals. We investigated whether vitamin C might modulate this response in mice by directly affecting B cells. Splenic B cells were isolated and activated by CD40- and B cell receptor-ligation in vitro. The cells were cultured with a pretr...

Cancer cells metastasize to the other site after escaping from the immune system and CD70, CD44 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) play important roles in this process. It is recently reported that interleukin (IL)-18 is closely related with the pathogenesis of skin tumor. Therefore, we investigated the role of endogenous IL-18 from stom...

Vitamin C is an essential micronutrient, which has been implicated in various biological processes, including immune response. In fact, in vivo administration of vitamin C modulates T cell proliferation and cytokine secretion. In this study, we analyzed the mechanism by which mouse T cells take up vitamin C, and whether this uptake directly affecte...

Vitamin C plays a crucial role in the suppression of proliferation of several types of cancer. Over-expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and type I insulin-like growth factor (IGF) receptor are important for proliferation and protection from apoptosis in malignancies. However, its specific mechanisms, especially the interaction between COX-2 expres...

CM1 (centrocyte/‐blast marker 1) is originally defined as a germinal center (GC) B cell marker and it plays a critical role on B cell development in GC. In addition, CM1 is expressed on Burkitt's lymphoma cell lines. It suggests that CM1 plays a role in the pathogenesis of tumor cells. Cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) and its product, prostaglandin E2 (PGE...

Activating DCs produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are necessary during antigen processing. In this study, we hypothesized that vitamin C (VC), as an antioxidant, may affect phenotype and function of DCs following activation. Bone marrow cells isolated from mice were cultured and differentiated into DCs in the presence of GM-CSF for 7 days...

CD40 has been shown to play a critical role in normal B-cell development and function. Interestingly, CD40 has also demonstrated to be expressed at high levels on some human cancers, including the breast cancer. However, the function of CD40 expressed on tumor cells is still not fully understood. In this study, therefore, the function of CD40 on tu...

It is well known that UVB (290-320 nm) induces inflammation in skin by the transcription and release of cytokines and chemokines from skin keratinocytes. In addition, it is considered that intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays an important role in UVB-induced inflammatory response in the skin. Therefore, we investigated the effect of vi...

Based on outstanding progresses in animal experiments, vaccines for some human tumors have been developed. However, clinical effects of these vaccines have been far below than expected. This discrepancy might come from differences between animal models and human patients with respect to immunocompetency. The immune status of mice after tumor inocul...

CM1 (Centrocyte/-blast Marker I) defined by a mAb developed against concanavalin-A activated PBMC, is expressed specifically on a subpopulation of centroblasts and centrocytes of human germinal center (GC) B cells. Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a tumor consisting of tumor cells with the characteristics of GC B cell. Previously we reported that CM1 ligat...

Previously we reported that a mega-dose of Vitamin C enhanced the initial stage of delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction in Balb/c mice. In this study its effects were further evaluated as follows. Mice were administered Vitamin C intraperitoneally at 0.625 mg/day or at 5mg/day for variable days before, during, or after being sensitized with DNFB....

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient, taken as a daily supplement by many people. Recently, high-dose vitamin C is considered as a therapeutic regimen in some clinical situations. Until now, few studies have been done with the effects of high-dose vitamin C on the immune response.

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a tumor with the characteristics of germinal center B cells. We previously reported that the CM1 (centrocyte/-blast marker 1) molecule is expressed only in germinal center B cells, specifically, in a subpopulation of centroblasts and centrocytes. In the present study, we investigated the apoptosis induced by anti-CM1 in the...

Many pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides (PSs) are similar in structure, and a pneumococcal antibody often binds to all of the PSs with a similar structure. Yet, these cross-reactive antibodies may bind to the structurally related pneumococcal capsular PSs with an avidity too low to be effective. If memory B cells producing such weakly cross-reac...

CM1 (centrocyte/-blast marker 1) defined by a mAb developed against concanavalin-A activated PBMC, is expressed specifically on some tonsillar germinal center (GC) B cells. In single flow cytometric analysis, the bone marrow did not express these molecules nor did the PBMC or the thymocytes. The peripheral B lymphocytes showed more than 90% positiv...

Follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) provide the most obvious source of antigens, which are essential for the differentiation of GC B cells. It has been reported that most proliferating B cells in germinal centers undergo apoptosis. Quantitative histology shows macrophages with apoptotic debris throughout the germinal center, the highest frequency of...

Interleukin-18 has been described recently as a cytokine secreted primarily by Kupffer cells. Furthermore, it has been shown that it has significant anti-tumor effects, which are mediated by T cells and natural killer cells, in a manner similar to interleukin-12. Here, we report the evaluation of the effects of the systemic administration of interl...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a significant pathogen of young children and the elderly. Systemic infection by pneumococci is a complex process involving several bacterial and host factors. We have investigated the role of CD40L in host defense against pneumococcal infection. Treatment of mice with MR-1 antibody (anti-CD154/CD40L) markedly reduced ant...