Refine
Document Type
- Article (3)
Language
- English (3)
Has Fulltext
- yes (3)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (3)
Keywords
- Cell biology (1)
- Evolutionary biology (1)
- Itacambira (1)
- Serra do Cabral (1)
- Spermacoce clade (1)
- T cells (1)
- antibodies (1)
- cancer (1)
- cytomegalovirus (1)
- immune responses (1)
Institute
Two new species of Psyllocarpus sect. Psyllocarpus, P. itakangapyra Sobrado, J.A.M.Carmo & R.M.Salas sp. nov. and P. vianae Sobrado, J.A.M.Carmo & R.M.Salas sp. nov., from the “campo rupestre” of the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, are here described and illustrated. We provide comments on their distribution, habitat, and preliminary conservation status, and discuss their taxonomy. In addition, we analyse floral, fruit, and seed micromorphology, as well as pollen grains of the new species. We also provide an updated identification key to the species of P. sect. Psyllocarpus.
Clinically relevant immune responses against Cytomegalovirus : implications for precision medicine
(2019)
Immune responses to human cytomegalovirus (CMV) can be used to assess immune fitness in an individual. Further to its clinical significance in posttransplantation settings, emerging clinical and translational studies provide examples of immune correlates of protection pertaining to anti-CMV immune responses in the context of cancer or infectious diseases, e.g., tuberculosis. In this viewpoint, we provide a brief overview about CMV-directed immune reactivity and immune fitness in a clinical context and incorporate some of our own findings obtained from peripheral blood or tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from patients with advanced cancer. Observations in patients with solid cancers whose lesions contain both CMV and tumour antigen-specific T-cell subsets are highlighted, due to a possible CMV-associated "bystander" effect in amplifying local inflammation and subsequent tumour rejection. The role of tumour-associated antibodies recognising diverse CMV-derived epitopes is also discussed in light of anti-cancer immune responses. We discuss here the use of anti-CMV immune responses as a theranostic tool—combining immunodiagnostics with a personalised therapeutic potential—to improve treatment outcomes in oncological indications.
Protein disulfide isomerases (PDIs) support endoplasmic reticulum redox protein folding and cell-surface thiol-redox control of thrombosis and vascular remodeling. The family prototype PDIA1 regulates NADPH oxidase signaling and cytoskeleton organization, however the related underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here we show that genes encoding human PDIA1 and its two paralogs PDIA8 and PDIA2 are each flanked by genes encoding Rho guanine-dissociation inhibitors (GDI), known regulators of RhoGTPases/cytoskeleton. Evolutionary histories of these three microsyntenic regions reveal their emergence by two successive duplication events of a primordial gene pair in the last common vertebrate ancestor. The arrangement, however, is substantially older, detectable in echinoderms, nematodes, and cnidarians. Thus, PDI/RhoGDI pairing in the same transcription orientation emerged early in animal evolution and has been largely maintained. PDI/RhoGDI pairs are embedded into conserved genomic regions displaying common cis-regulatory elements. Analysis of gene expression datasets supports evidence for PDI/RhoGDI coexpression in developmental/inflammatory contexts. PDIA1/RhoGDIα were co-induced in endothelial cells upon CRISP-R-promoted transcription activation of each pair component, and also in mouse arterial intima during flow-induced remodeling. We provide evidence for physical interaction between both proteins. These data support strong functional links between PDI and RhoGDI families, which likely maintained PDI/RhoGDI microsynteny along > 800-million years of evolution.