The Nobel Lectures in Immunology. The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1960. Immunological tolerance

Advanced Cell Therapy: Beyond the last Frontier in the Treatment of Cancer. A Historical Perspective Emphasizing the Work of Nobel Prize Laureates

During the last five decades different therapies have been developed for the treatment of cancer, and as a result, patients can now live longer and better lives. Among such therapies, hematopoietic cell transplantation and immunotherapy have played key roles. In this short article, we present our particular point of view on the development of these two cellular therapies. We have focused on a historical perspective emphasizing the work of some of the Nobel Prize winners whose studies constituted cornerstones in our knowledge of the biology of cancer and in our fight against this devastating disease.

Multivariate analysis of cytokine profiles in pregnancy complications

PROBLEM

The immunoregulation to tolerate the semiallogeneic fetus during pregnancy includes a harmonious dynamic balance between anti- and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Several earlier studies reported significantly different levels and/or ratios of several cytokines in complicated pregnancy as compared to normal pregnancy. However, as cytokines operate in networks with potentially complex interactions, it is also interesting to compare groups with multi-cytokine data sets, with multivariate analysis. Such analysis will further examine how great the differences are, and which cytokines are more different than others.

METHODS

Various multivariate statistical tools, such as Cramer test, classification and regression trees, partial least squares regression figures, 2-dimensional Kolmogorov-Smirmov test, principal component analysis and gap statistic, were used to compare cytokine data of normal vs anomalous groups of different pregnancy complications.

RESULTS

Multivariate analysis assisted in examining if the groups were different, how strongly they differed, in what ways they differed and further reported evidence for subgroups in 1 group (pregnancy-induced hypertension), possibly indicating multiple causes for the complication.

CONCLUSION

This work contributes to a better understanding of cytokines interaction and may have important implications on targeting cytokine balance modulation or design of future medications or interventions that best direct management or prevention from an immunological approach.

Innate and adaptive immune responses in neurodegeneration and repair

Emerging evidence suggests important roles of the innate and adaptive immune responses in the central nervous system (CNS) in neurodegenerative diseases. In this special review issue, five leading researchers discuss the evidence for the beneficial as well as the detrimental impact of the immune system in the CNS in disorders including Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and CNS injury. Several common pathological mechanisms emerge indicating that these pathways could provide important targets for manipulating the immune reposes in neurodegenerative disorders. The articles highlight the role of the traditional resident immune cell of the CNS - the microglia - as well as the role of other glia astrocytes and oligodendrocytes in immune responses and their interplay with other immune cells including, mast cells, T cells and B cells. Future research should lead to new discoveries which highlight targets for therapeutic interventions which may be applicable to a range of neurodegenerative diseases.

Latent viral infections of the nervous system: role of the host immune response

Viruses that infect the nervous system may cause acute, chronic or latent infections. Despite the so-called immunoprivileged status of the nervous system, immunosurveillance plays an important role in the fate of viral infection of the brain. Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) persists in the nervous system for the life of the host with periodic stress induced reactivation that produces progeny viruses. Prevention of reactivation requires a complex interplay between virus neurons, and immune response. New evidence supports the view that CD8+T cells employing both lytic granule- and IFN-gamma-dependent effectors are essential in setting up and maintaining HSV-1 latency. HSV-1 infection of the nervous system can be seen as a parasitic invasion which leaves the individual at risk for subsequent reactivation and disease. The recent observation that herpes virus latency may confer protection against experimental bacterial infection suggests that unexpected symbiosis may exist between latent viruses and the infected nervous system of its host.