Glatiramer acetate attenuates the pro‐migratory profile of adhesion molecules on various immune cell subsets in multiple sclerosis

An altered expression pattern of adhesion molecules (AM) on the surface of immune cells is a premise for their extravasation into the central nervous system (CNS) and the formation of acute brain lesions in multiple sclerosis (MS). We evaluated the impact of glatiramer acetate (GA) on cell‐bound and soluble AM in the peripheral blood of patients with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS). Fifteen patients treated de novo with GA were studied on four occasions over a period of 12 months. Surface levels of intracellular cell adhesion molecule (ICAM)‐1, ICAM‐3, lymphocyte function‐associated antigen (LFA)‐1 and very late activation antigen (VLA)‐4 were assessed in T cells (CD3⁺CD8⁺, CD3⁺CD4⁺), B cells, natural killer (NK) cells, natural killer T cells (NK T) and monocytes by five‐colour flow cytometry. Soluble E‐selectin, ICAM‐1, ICAM‐3, platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM)‐1, P‐selectin and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)‐1 were determined with a fluorescent bead‐based immunoassay. The pro‐migratory pattern in RRMS was verified by comparison with healthy controls and was characterized by up‐regulation of LFA‐1 (CD3⁺CD4⁺ T cells, B cells), VLA‐4 (CD3⁺CD8⁺ T cells, NK cells), ICAM‐1 (B cells) and ICAM‐3 (NK cells). Effects of GA treatment were most pronounced after 6 months and included attenuated levels of LFA‐1 (CD3⁺CD4⁺) and VLA‐4 (CD3⁺CD4⁺, CD3⁺CD8⁺, NK, NK T, monocytes). Further effects included lowering of ICAM‐1 and ICAM‐3 levels in almost all immune cell subsets. Soluble AM levels in RRMS did not differ from healthy controls and remained unaltered after GA treatment. The deregulated pro‐migratory expression profile of cell‐bound AM is altered by GA treatment. While this alteration may contribute to the beneficial action of the drug, the protracted development and unselective changes indicate more secondary immune regulatory phenomena related to these effects.     

Gene expression changes in aging retinal microglia: relationship to microglial support functions and regulation of activation

Microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), are thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of age-related neurodegenerative disorders. It has been hypothesized that microglia undergo age-related changes in gene expression patterns that give rise to pathogenic phenotypes. We compared the gene expression profiles in microglia isolated ex vivo from the retinas of mice ranging from early adulthood to late senescence. We discovered that microglial gene expression demonstrated progressive change with increasing age, and involved genes that regulate microglial supportive functions and immune activation. Molecular pathways involving immune function and regulation, angiogenesis, and neurotrophin signaling demonstrated age-related change. In particular, expression levels of complement genes, C3 and CFB, previously associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), increased with aging, suggesting that senescent microglia may contribute to complement dysregulation during disease pathogenesis. Taken together, senescent microglia demonstrate age-related gene expression changes capable of altering their constitutive support functions and regulation of their activation status in ways relating to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in the CNS.     

Clinical phenotypes of spinal muscular atrophy patients with hybrid SMN gene

BackgroundSpinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neuromuscular disease caused by homozygous deletion of SMN1 exons 7 and 8. However, exon 8 is retained in some cases, where SMN2 exon 7 recombines with SMN1 exon 8, forming a hybrid SMN gene. It remains unknown how the hybrid SMN gene contribute to the SMA phenotype.MethodWe analyzed 515 patients with clinical suspicion for SMA. SMN1 exons 7 and 8 deletion was detected by PCR followed by enzyme digestion. Hybrid SMN genes were further analyzed by nucleotide sequencing. SMN2 copy number was determined by real-time PCR.ResultsSMN1 exon 7 was deleted in 228 out of 515 patients, and SMN1 exon 8 was also deleted in 204 out of the 228 patients. The remaining 24 patients were judged to carry a hybrid SMN gene. In the patients with SMN1 exon 7 deletion, the frequency of the severe phenotype was significantly lower in the patients with hybrid SMN gene than in the patients without hybrid SMN gene. However, as for the distribution of SMN2 exon 7 copy number among the clinical phenotypes, there was no significant difference between both groups of SMA patients with or without hybrid SMN gene.ConclusionHybrid SMN genes are not rare in Japanese SMA patients, and it appears to be associated with a less severe phenotype. The phenotype of patients with hybrid SMN gene was determined by the copy number of SMN2 exon 7, as similarly for the patients without hybrid SMN gene.     

Epstein–Barr virus-positive nodal peripheral T cell lymphomas: Clinicopathologic and gene expression profiling study

Epstein–Barr virus-positive peripheral T cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (EBV+ PTCL-NOS), in which virtually all neoplastic T cells harbor EBV, is a very rare disease with poor prognosis. To analyze the clinicopathologic characteristics and gene expression profile, we retrospectively collected six cases of EBV+ PTCL-NOS with no known primary immunodeficiency. The patients were 5 men and 1 woman, their age ranging from 48 years to 88 years (median 61.5 years). Lymphadenopathy was the most common presentation. Four patients had underlying disease, including HBV carrier, HCV infection, diabetes mellitus, and prostate cancer. All patients showed fatal clinical course in spite of chemotherapy. Histopathologically, monotonous infiltration of atypical lymphocytes of small to medium size was shown in four patients and medium to large tumor cells in two patients. Five patients showed CD4−/CD8+/bF-1+ phenotype with TIA-1 expression. In gene expression analysis using mRNA microarray, genes differentially expressed in EBV+ PTCL-NOS compared to normal reactive lymph nodes included 1515 genes (Mann–Whitney U-test p < 0.05, folder change ≥4 times). Enriched functional annotation terms by DAVID were mostly related to immune response, defense response, cell-to-cell signaling, and membrane signaling. Especially, the genes involved in B cell differentiation or activation were mostly down-regulated, and T cell activation was mostly suppressed by down-regulation of activation genes and up-regulation of regulatory genes. Genes associated with cytotoxic activity were mostly up-regulated. Based on its peculiar clinical, histopathologic, and gene expression findings in EBV+ PTCL-NOS, we suggest EBV+ PTCL-NOS as a distinct disease entity from PTCL-NOS. In this study, the finding that most significantly enriched the functional term was immune response, suggesting a specific relation between EBV infection and alteration of immune response in the patients with EBV+ PTCL-NOS.     

REDIRECTING T LYMPHOCYTE SPECIFICITY USING T CELL RECEPTOR GENES

Redirecting T cells by transferring T cell receptor (TCR) genes from tumor-associated antigen (TAA)-reactive T cell clones into human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) has therapeutic potential for the treatment of diseases, including cancer. T cell specificity can be altered using retroviruses encoding TCR &#102 and TCR &#103 chain genes, or chimeric immunoglobulin (cIg) genes containing signaling domains of CD3 &#145 or Fc &#108 RI- &#110. This review evaluates recent studies using TCRs and cIgs to redirect T cell specificity and discusses some of the technical and biological hurdles that need to be addressed before these approaches can be successfully used to treat patients.