Up-regulation of Tim-3 Expression Contributes to Development of Burn-induced T Cell Immune Suppression in Mice

T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 （Tim-3） is well known to negatively regulate T cells responses, but its role in burn-induced T cells immune suppression remains unclear. In the present study, in order to identify the relationship between Tim-3 expression and post-burn T cells immune suppression, C57BL/6 mice were subjected to burn injury or sham injury, and the liver and spleen were harvested at the day 1 after operation. The expression level of Tim-3 on hepatic or splenic T cells and the functional properties of Tim-3＋ T cells were evaluated. It was found burn injury induced dramatically elevated Tim-3 expression on both hepatic and splenic CD4＋ and CD8＋ T cells in contrast with the post-burn depletion of T cells. Furthermore, Tim-3 expression was correlated with the suppressive phenotype of T cells following burn injury, including increased expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, decreased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ and TNF-α, reduced T cell proliferation and elevated co-expression of Tim-3 and PD-1. Moreover, Tim-3＋ T cells subsets were more prone to spontaneous apoptosis than Tim-3- T cells subsets. Our findings reinforce the idea that the up-regulated expression of Tim-3 on T cells after burn injury plays an important role in the development and maintenance of burn-induced T cell immune suppression.

Important of case-reports/series, in rare diseases: Using neuroendocrine tumors as an example

At present the publishing of case reports or case series involving small numbers of cases is controversial. While in the past they were commonly published by most journals, recently a number of prominent journals have either stopped publishing them or markedly reduced the numbers published. However, recently an increasing case is being made for their value and a number of new journals have been started devoted specifically to their publication. One of the arguments used for their value is their prominent role in rare diseases either in their recognition, full description or development of treatments. However this aspect has not been specifically studied. In this editorial this aspect is specifically examined using their role in neuroendocrine tumors as an example. Furthermore, the background of the controversy is briefly reviewed to better understand the context of this editorial.

Bacterial inclusion bodies function as vehicles for dendritic cell-mediated T cell responses

Immunogenic antigens for vaccination are often created through the production of recombinant proteins using Escherichia coli.1 As a side product,aggregates called inclusion bodies(IBs)are formed,containing largely misfolded forms of the overexpressed recombinant protein.2 The effect of IBs on the immune system and whether they can be used as effective vaccine products remain unknown.The non-native conformation of proteins upon accumulation in IBs abrogates their use as vaccines aimed at generating high-affinity antibodies.3 However,IBs exhibit unique properties,including mechanical and thermal stability due to their intrinsic particulate nature,biocompatibility,high antigenic content,low toxicity and relative resistance to proteases.These characteristics make IBs attractive as an antigenic vaccine formulation for T cell responses to linear epitopes.Whether IBs can trigger adaptive cellular responses initiated via uptake by dendritic cells for presentation to T cells is unknown.

Hypertonia-linked protein Trakl functions with mitofusins to promote mitochondrial tethering and fusion

Hypertonia is a neurological dysfunction associated with a number of central nervous system disorders, including cerebral palsy, Parkinson＇s disease, dystonia, and epilepsy. Genetic studies have identified a homozygous truncation mutation in Trakl that causes hypertonia in mice. Moreover, elevated Trakl protein expression is associated with several types of cancers and variants in Trakl are linked to childhood absence epilepsy in humans. Despite the importance of Trakl in health and disease, the mechanisms of Trakl action remain unclear and the pathogenic effects of Trakl mutation are unknown. Here we report that Trakl has a crucial function in regulation of mitochondrial fusion. Depletion of Trakl inhibits mitochondrial fusion, result- ing in mitochondrial fragmentation, whereas overex- pression of Trakl elongates and enlarges mitochondria. Our analyses revealed that Trakl interacts and colocal- izes with mitofusins on the outer mitochondrial mem- brane and functions with mitofusins to promote mitochondrial tethering and fusion. Furthermore, Trakl is required for stress-induced mitochondrial hyperfu- sion and pro-survival response. We found that hyper- tonia-associated mutation impairs Trakl mitochondrial localization and its ability to facilitate mitochondrial tethering and fusion. Our findings uncover a novel function of Trakl as a regulator of mitochondrial fusion and provide evidence linking dysregulated mitochon- drial dynamics to hypertonia pathogenesis.

Roles for the VCP co-factors Npl4 and Ufd1 in neuronal function in Drosophila melanogaster

The VCP-Ufd1-Npl4 complex regulates proteasomal processing within cells by delivering ubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome for degradation.Mutations in VCP are associated with two neurodegenerative diseases,amyotrophic lateral sclerosis（ALS） and inclusion body myopathy with Paget＇s disease of the bone and frontotemporal dementia（IBMPFD）,and extensive study has revealed crucial functions of VCP within neurons.By contrast,little is known about the functions of Npl4 or Ufd1 in vivo.Using neuronalspecific knockdown of Npl4 or Ufd1 in Drosophila melanogaster,we infer that Npl4 contributes to microtubule organization within developing motor neurons.Moreover,Npl4 RNAi flies present with neurodegenerative phenotypes including progressive locomotor deficits,reduced lifespan and increased accumulation of TAR DNA-binding protein-43 homolog（TBPH）.Knockdown,but not overexpression,of TBPH also exacerbates Npl4 RNAi-associated adult-onset neurodegenerative phenotypes.In contrast,we find that neuronal knockdown of Ufd1 has little effect on neuromuscular junction（NMJ） organization,TBPH accumulation or adult behaviour.These findings suggest the differing neuronal functions of Npl4 and Ufd1 in vivo.