High performance of Ge@C nanocables as the anode for lithium ion batteries

Germanium is a promising high-capacity anode material for lithium ion batteries.

Dendritic cells derived in vitro from acute myelogenous leukemia cells stimulate autologous, antileukemic T-cell responses

We have previously reported that leukemic dendritic cells (DC) can be generated ex vivo from myelomonocytic precursors in chronic myelogenous leukemia. In this study we report the generation of DC from acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cells and their potent ability to stimulate leukemia-specific cytolytic activity in autologous lymphocytes. DC were generated in vitro using granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor +interleukin-4 in combination with either tumor necrosis factor-alpha or CD40 ligand (CD40L). Cells from 19 AML patients with a variety of chromosomal abnormalities were studied for their ability to generate DC. In all but 1 case, cells with the morphology, phenotypic characteristics, and T-cell stimulatory properties of DC could be generated. These cells expressed high levels of major histocompatibility complex class I and class II antigens as well as the costimulatory molecules B7-2 and ICAM-1. In three cases these cells were determined to be of leukemic origin by fluorescence in situ hybridization for chromosomal abnormalities or Western blotting for the inv(16) fusion gene product. Autologous lymphocytes cocultured with AML-derived DC (DC-AL) were able to lyse autologous leukemia targets, whereas little cytotoxicity was noted against autologous, normal cells obtained from the patients during remission. We conclude that leukemia derived DC may be useful for immunotherapy of many AML patients.

The gene product of CBFB-MYH11

The inversion(16)(p13;q22) gives rise to chimeric transcripts CBFB-MYH11. To date however, no reports have described the full length coding sequence cloned from patient material or the protein product derived from transcripts. We describe here the cloning and sequencing of the coding region of the fusion gene (type A) from patient cells. The sequence is identical to the included portions of the normal constituent transcripts. We report the study of CBFB and CBFB-MYH11 protein using two anti-CBFB antisera. Twenty-two cases of inv(16) leukemia and a number of other cases of AML were examined. The predicted 70 kDa type A or 95 kDa type D CBFB-MYH11 peptide was detected in 20/22 cases of inv(16) AML. CBFB was expressed as a 21 kDa protein in all samples studied, including hematopoietic cell lines of all major lineages.