On the various manifestations of spontaneous autoimmune diabetes in rodent models

Autoimmune (type 1) diabetes mellitus in mouse, rat, and humans shares several features, including T lymphocyte infiltration into pancreatic islets and a dependence on permissive class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) alleles. We report here on an experimental model involving mice that express influenza hemagglutinin (HA) under the control of the insulin promoter and, at the same time, a transgenic class II MHC-restricted T cell receptor (TcR) specific for an HA peptide. These mice spontaneously develop islet infiltrates resembling those found in NOD mice and most animals become diabetic within 8 weeks of age. Because of the availability of a clonotypic TcR antibody, we can be confident that the Ins-HA transgene does not induce any measurable alterations in the vast majority of T cells with the transgenic TcR in primary and secondary lymphoid organs. Continuous export of large numbers of HA-specific lymphocytes from the thymus was not required for the manifestation of the disease since mice thymectomized at 3 days after birth still developed the disease albeit with smaller infiltrates.     

Phenotypic plasticity of T cell progenitors upon exposure to Notch ligands

Despite many efforts, the nature of thymic immigrants that give rise to T cells has remained obscure, especially since it became known that extrathymic lineage-negative, Sca-1-positive, c-kit high progenitor cells differ from intrathymic early T cell progenitors (ETPs) by functional potential and dependence on Notch signaling. After our observation that intrathymic T cell precursors expressing a human CD25 reporter under control of pre-TCRalpha regulatory elements almost exclusively have the ETP phenotype, we have analyzed the phenotypic changes of reporter-expressing common lymphoid progenitor (CLP) cells in the bone marrow when cultured on Delta-like 1-expressing stromal cells. We note that these quickly adopt the phenotype of double negative (DN)2 thymocytes with little display of the ETP phenotype. Our data suggest that common lymphoid progenitor (CLP) cells could be responsible for the rapid reconstitution of thymus function after bone marrow transplantation since CLP cells in the blood have the capacity to rapidly enter the thymus and become DN2 thymocytes.     

Oligometastases: the new paradigm and options for radiotherapy

Traditional oncology distinguishes between two separate and incommensurable states in the evolution of solid malignancies: the localized disease, which is curable; and the disseminated status, which is per se palliative. Recently, a huge body of evidence suggests a fundamental change in the understanding of cancer, indicating an intermediate state in the trajectory of solid malignancies: the oligometastatic state. The following review will critically analyse existing hypotheses and facts from the basic sciences and try to contextualize it in regard to the clinical evidence available to date. Consecutively, it will try to draw possible clinical consequences for application of radiotherapy in this specific clinical scenario.     

Substance P receptor binding sites are expressed by glia in vivo after neuronal injury.

In vitro studies have demonstrated that glia can express functional receptors for a variety of neurotransmitters. To determine whether similar neurotransmitter receptors are also expressed by glia in vivo, we examined the glial scar in the transected optic nerve of the albino rabbit by quantitative receptor autoradiography. Receptor binding sites for radiolabeled calcitonin gene-related peptide, cholecystokinin, galanin, glutamate, somatostatin, substance P, and vasoactive intestinal peptide were examined. Specific receptor binding sites for each of these neurotransmitters were identified in the rabbit forebrain but were not detected in the normal optic nerve or tract. In the transected optic nerve and tract, only receptor binding sites for substance P were expressed at detectable levels. The density of substance P receptor binding sites observed in this glial scar is among the highest observed in the rabbit forebrain. Ligand displacement and saturation experiments indicate that the substance P receptor binding site expressed by the glial scar has pharmacological characteristics similar to those of substance P receptors in the rabbit striatum, rat brain, and rat and canine gut. The present study demonstrates that glial cells in vivo express high concentrations of substance P receptor binding sites after transection of retinal ganglion cell axons. Because substance P has been shown to regulate inflammatory and immune responses in peripheral tissues, substance P may also, by analogy, be involved in regulating the glial response to injury in the central nervous system.