Mo-DC differentiation and function in response to Tofacitinib, which may alter DC functions.Antigen-specific IgG antibodies, passively administered together with erythrocytes, prevent antibody responses against the erythrocytes. The mechanism behind the suppressive ability of IgG has been the subject of intensive studies, yet there is no consensus as to how it works. An important question is whether the Fc-region of IgG is required. Several laboratories have shown that IgG suppresses equally well in wildtype mice and mice lacking the inhibitory FcγIIB, activating FcγRs (FcγRI, III, and IV), or complement factor C3. These observations consistently suggest that IgG-mediated suppression does not rely on Fc-mediated antibody functions. However, it was recently shown that anti-KEL sera failed to suppress antibody responses to KEL-expressing transgenic mouse erythrocytes in double knock-out mice lacking both activating FcγRs and C3. Yet, in the same study, antibody-mediated suppression worked well in each single knock-out strain. This unexpected observation suggested Fc-dependence of IgG-mediated suppression and prompted us to investigate the issue in the classical experimental model using sheep red blood cells (SRBC) as antigen. SRBC alone or IgG anti-SRBC together with SRBC was administered to wildtype and double knock-out mice lacking C3 and activating FcγRs. IgG efficiently suppressed the IgM and IgG anti-SRBC responses in both mouse strains, thus supporting previous observations that suppression in this model is Fc-independent.Patients who have experienced a first cerebral ischemic event are at increased risk of recurrent stroke. There is strong evidence that low-level inflammation as measured by high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a predictor of further ischemic events. Other mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of stroke may play a role in determining the risk of secondary events, including oxidative stress and the adaptive response to it and activation of neuroprotective pathways by hypoxia, for instance through induction of erythropoietin (EPO). This study investigated the association of the levels of CRP, peroxiredoxin 1 (PRDX1, an indicator of the physiological response to oxidative stress) and EPO (a neuroprotective factor produced in response to hypoxia) with the risk of a second ischemic event. Eighty patients with a diagnosis of lacunar stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) were included in the study and a blood sample was collected within 14 days from the initial event. Hs-CRP, PRDX1, and EPO were measured by ELISA. Further ischemic events were recorded with a mean follow-up of 42 months (min 24, max 64). Multivariate analysis showed that only CRP was an independent predictor of further events with an observed risk (OR) of 1.14 (P = 0.034, 95% CI 1.01-1.29). No association was observed with the levels of PRDX1 or EPO. A receiver operating curve (ROC) determined a cut-off CRP level of 3.25 μg/ml, with a 46% sensitivity and 81% specificity. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/a-769662.html Low-level inflammation as detected by hs-CRP is an independent predictor of recurrent cerebrovascular ischemic events.Thymic involution is an important factor leading to the aging of the immune system. Most of what we know regarding thymic aging comes from mouse models, and the nature of the thymic aging process in humans remains largely unexplored due to the lack of a model system that permits longitudinal studies of human thymic involution. In this study, we sought to explore the potential to examine human thymic involution in humanized mice, constructed by transplantation of fetal human thymus and CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells into immunodeficient mice. In these humanized mice, the human thymic graft first underwent acute recoverable involution caused presumably by transplantation stress, followed by an age-related chronic form of involution. Although both the early recoverable and later age-related thymic involution were associated with a decrease in thymic epithelial cells and recent thymic emigrants, only the latter was associated with an increase in adipose tissue mass in the thymus. Furthermore, human thymic grafts showed a dramatic reduction in FOXN1 and AIRE expression by 10 weeks post-transplantation. This study indicates that human thymus retains its intrinsic mechanisms of aging and susceptibility to stress-induced involution when transplanted into immunodeficient mice, offering a potentially useful in vivo model to study human thymic involution and to test therapeutic interventions.The bioavailability of the major pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1α and IL-1β is tightly controlled by transcription and post-translational processing to prevent hyperinflammation. The role of mRNA decay in maintenance of physiological IL-1 amounts remained unknown. Here we show that the down-regulation of Il1a and Il1b mRNA by the mRNA-destabilizing protein TTP (gene Zfp36) is required for immune homeostasis. The TTP deficiency syndrome, a multi organ inflammation in TTP-/- mice, was significantly ameliorated upon deletion of the IL-1 receptor. Il1a and Il1b played non-redundant roles in triggering the pathological IL-1 signaling in TTP-/- mice. Accordingly, tissues from TTP-/- animals contained increased amounts of Il1b mRNA. Unexpectedly, TTP destabilized Il1b mRNA in cell type-specific ways as evident from RNA-Seq and mRNA stability assays. These results demonstrate that TTP-driven mRNA destabilization depends on the cellular context. Moreover, such context-defined mRNA decay is essential for keeping steady state IL-1 levels in the physiological range.Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a parasite infecting animals and humans. In intermediate hosts, such as humans or rodents, rapidly replicating tachyzoites drive vigorous innate and adaptive immune responses resulting in bradyzoites that survive within tissue cysts. Activation of the innate immune system is critical during the early phase of infection to limit pathogen growth and to instruct parasite-specific adaptive immunity. In rodents, dendritic cells (DCs) sense T. gondii through TLR11/12, leading to IL-12 production, which activates NK cells to produce IFN-γ as an essential mechanism for early parasite control. Further, C3 can bind to T. gondii resulting in limited complement activation. Here, we determined the role of C5a/C5aR1 axis activation for the early innate immune response in a mouse model of peritoneal T. gondii infection. We found that C5ar1-/- animals suffered from significantly higher weight loss, disease severity, mortality, and parasite burden in the brain than wild type control animals. Severe infection in C5ar1-/- mice was associated with diminished serum concentrations of IL-12, IL-27, and IFN-γ.