Research progress of immune checkpoint molecules in pregnancy

In recent years,immune checkpoint molecules have made breakthroughs in the fields of inducing graft tolerance,tumor immune escape and preventing autoimmunity.These immunoregulatory factors,when combined with ligand,can transduce the inhibitory signal into cells to negatively regulate the immune response,which brings new enlightenment for the immune research of pregnancy and pregnancy complications.In this review,we reviewed the immunomodulatory effects of CTLA-4,PD-1 and Tim-3 in pregnancy,in order to evaluate their potential effects in pregnancy,and to provide a new direction for the immunotherapy of pregnancy complications.

Research progress of tonic Chinese medicine on the immune system

The immune system as an important defense system of the body,bear the resistance to foreign pathogens invasion,removal of foreign heterogeneity,and protect the body′s safety.Modern research shows that tonic Chinese medicine,including single herband compound formula,has the function of improving immune organ index,enhancing immune cellfunction and affecting the immune molecule production and secretion.This article will review the effects of traditional Chinese medicine on immune organs,immune cells and immune molecules,and provide reference for the clinical research of traditional Chinese medicine.

Inflammatory Cytokine Secretion Status of Bone Marrow Cells and Clinical Significance in Immune-related Hematocytopenia

Objective To observe the expression of inlfammatory molecules in bone marrow immune cells of patients with immune-related hematocytopenia (IRH), and to investigate the immune mechanism and clinical signiifcance of the disease. Methods Total of 36 IRH patients were selected as observation group and 30 healthy people were taken as control group. Serum cytokines levels, activity of immunocytes and expression of HLA-DR were detected. Immune lfuorescence was applied to observe the expression state of immunologic molecules and cytokines in IRH patients. Results Serum cytokines were elevated in various degrees in observation group. Compared with the control group, the cytokines levels were significantly higher (P < 0.05). After treatement with immunosuppressive drugs, the serum levels of cytokines in observation group reduced to a level close to the control group. HLA-DR were upregulated in activated tissue basophils, eosinophils, dendritic cells (DC) and macrophages of bone marrow in IRH patients, and POX activity in these immunocytes of IRH was higher than that of the control group. Immune molecules were highly expressed in eosinophils, DC and macrophages. Conclusions It is demonstrated that antibodies or self-reactive lymphocytes were produced in IRH marrow, which would cause lesions of hemocytes, and lead to pathological process ifnally. Structure of hematopoietic cells mutated and these cells might be acted as target cells of immunocytes in the pathological process. Immunocytes could secrete inlfammatory factors and lead to immunologic injury of hemocyte.

Development and validation of a tumor microenvironment-related prognostic signature in lung adenocarcinoma and immune infiltration analysis

Objective Tumor-infiltrating immune cells and stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment(TME)significantly affect the prognosis of and immune response to lung adenocarcinoma(LUAD).In this study,we aimed to develop a novel TME-related prognostic model based on immune and stromal genes in LUAD.Methods LUAD data from the TCGA database were used as the training cohort,and three Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO)datasets were used as the testing cohort.The Estimation of STromal and Immune cells in MAlignant Tumor tissues using Expression data algorithm was used to analyze the immune and stromal genes involved in the TME.Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to identify prognostic genes and construct a TME-related prognostic model.Gene set enrichment analysis and TIMER were used to analyze the immune features and signaling pathways of the model.Results A TME-related prognostic model based on six hub genes was generated that significantly stratified patients into the high-and low-risk groups in terms of overall survival.The model had strong predictive ability in both the training(TCGA)and testing(GEO)datasets and could serve as an independent prognostic factor for LUAD.Moreover,the low-risk group was characterized by greater immune cell infiltration and antitumor immune activity than the high-risk group.Importantly,the signature was closely associated with immune checkpoint molecules,which may serve as a predictor of patient response to immunotherapy.Finally,the hub genes BTK,CD28,INHA,PIK3CG,TLR4,and VEGFD were considered novel prognostic biomarkers for LUAD and were significantly correlated with immune cells.Conclusion The TME-related prognostic model could effectively predict the prognosis and reflect the TME status of LUAD.These six hub genes provided novel insights into the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Expression of ICAM-1, HLA-DR, and CD80 on peripheral circulating CD_1αDCs induced in vivo by IFN-αin patients with chronic hepatitis B

AIM: To explore the effects of interferon-α(IFN-α) application on peripheral circulating CD1αdendritic cells (DCs) in patients with chronic hepatitis B, and the expression of HLA-DR, CD80, and ICAM-1 on CD1αDCs in order to explore the mechanism of immune modulation of IFN-α. METHODS: By flow cytometry technique, changes of CD1αDCs were monitored in 22 patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with IFN-αand in 16 such patients not treated with IFN-αwithin three months. Meanwhile, the expression of HLA-DR, CD80, and ICAM-1 on CD1αDCs was detected. RESULTS: In the group of IFN-αtreatment, the percentage of CD1αDCs in peripheral blood mono-nuclear cells was increased after three months of therapy. In patients who became negative for HBV-DNA after IFN-αtreatment, the increase of DCs was more prominent, while in control, these changes were not observed. Increased expression of HLA-DR, CD80, and ICAM-1 on CD1αDCs was also observed. CONCLUSION: CD1αDCs can be induced by IFN-αin vivo, and the immune related molecules such as HLA-DR, CD80, and ICAM-1 are up-regulated to some degree. This might be an important immune related mechanism of IFN-αtreatment for chronic hepatitis B.