Selective Shielding of Bone Marrow: An Approach to Protecting Humans from External Gamma Radiation

The current feasibility of protecting emergency responders through bone marrow selective shielding is highlighted in the recent OECD/NEA report on severe accident management. Until recently, there was no effective personal protection from externally penetrating gamma radiation. In Chernobyl, first-responders wore makeshift lead sheeting, whereas in Fukushima protective equipment from gamma radiation was not available. Older protective solutions that use thin layers of shielding over large body surfaces are ineffective for energetic gamma radiation. Acute exposures may result in Acute Radiation Syndrome where the survival-limiting factor up to 10 Gy uniform, homogeneous exposure is irreversible bone marrow damage. Protracted, lower exposures may result in malignancies of which bone marrow is especially susceptible, being compounded by leukemia's short latency time. This highlights the importance of shielding bone marrow for preventing both deterministic and stochastic effects. Due to the extraordinary regenerative potential of hematopoietic stem cells, to effectively prevent the deterministic effects of bone marrow exposure, it is sufficient to protect only a small fraction of this tissue. This biological principle allows for a new class of equipment providing unprecedented attenuation of radiation to select marrow-rich regions, deferring the hematopoietic sub-syndrome of Acute Radiation Syndrome to much higher doses. As approximately half of the body's active bone marrow resides within the pelvis region, shielding this area holds great promise for preventing the deterministic effects of bone marrow exposure and concomitantly reducing stochastic effects. The efficacy of a device that selectively shields this region and other radiosensitive organs in the abdominal area is shown here.

TCR-independent killing of B cell malignancies by anti-third-party CTLs: the critical role of MHC-CD8 engagement

We previously demonstrated that anti-third-party CTLs (stimulated under IL-2 deprivation against cells with an MHC class I [MHC-I] background different from that of the host and the donor) are depleted of graft-versus-host reactivity and can eradicate B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells in vitro or in an HU/SCID mouse model. We demonstrated in the current study that human allogeneic or autologous anti-third-party CTLs can also efficiently eradicate primary non-Hodgkin B cell lymphoma by inducing slow apoptosis of the pathological cells. Using MHC-I mutant cell line as target cells, which are unrecognizable by the CTL TCR, we demonstrated directly that this killing is TCR independent. Strikingly, this unique TCR-independent killing is induced through lymphoma MHC-I engagement. We further showed that this killing mechanism begins with durable conjugate formation between the CTLs and the tumor cells, through rapid binding of tumor ICAM-1 to the CTL LFA-1 molecule. This conjugation is followed by a slower second step of MHC-I-dependent apoptosis, requiring the binding of the MHC-I α2/3 C region on tumor cells to the CTL CD8 molecule for killing to ensue. By comparing CTL-mediated killing of Daudi lymphoma cells (lacking surface MHC-I expression) to Daudi cells with reconstituted surface MHC-I, we demonstrated directly for the first time to our knowledge, in vitro and in vivo, a novel role for MHC-I in the induction of lymphoma cell apoptosis by CTLs. Additionally, by using different knockout and transgenic strains, we further showed that mouse anti-third-party CTLs also kill lymphoma cells using similar unique TCR-independence mechanism as human CTLs, while sparing normal naive B cells.

Effect of Penicillium chrysogenum on Lignin Transformation

A strain of Penicillium chrysogenum has been isolated from pine forest soils in Tenerife (Canary Islands). This strain was capable of utilizing hydroxylated and nonhydroxylated aromatic compounds, in particular cinnamic acid, as its sole carbon source. In an optimum medium with high levels of nitrogen (25.6 mM) and low levels of glucose (5.5 mM), it was able to decolorize Poly B-411 and to transform kraft, organosolv, and synthetic dehydrogenative polymerisate lignins. After 30 days of incubation, the amount of recovered kraft lignin was reduced to 83.5 and 91.3% of that estimated for uninoculated controls by spectrophotometry and klason lignin, respectively. At the same time, the pattern of molecular mass distribution of the lignin remaining in cultures was changed. The amount of organosolv lignin recovered from cultures was reduced to 90.1 and 94.6% of the initial amount as evaluated by spectrophotometry and klason lignin, respectively. About 6% of total applied radioactivity of OCH(3)-organosolv lignin was recovered as CO(2) after 30 days of incubation, and 18.5% of radioactivity from insoluble OCH(3)-organosolv lignin was solubilized. After 26 days of incubation, 2.9% of C-beta-dehydrogenative polymerisate and 4.1% of C-ring-dehydrogenative polymerisate evolved as CO(2).

Pig embryonic pancreatic tissue as a source for transplantation in diabetes: transient treatment with anti-LFA1, anti-CD48, and FTY720 enables long-term graft maintenance in mice with only mild ongoing immunosuppression

OBJECTIVE

Defining an optimal costimulatory blockade-based immune suppression protocol enabling engraftment and functional development of E42 pig embryonic pancreatic tissue in mice.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Considering that anti-CD40L was found to be thrombotic in humans, we sought to test alternative costimulatory blockade agents already in clinical use, including CTLA4-Ig, anti-LFA1, and anti-CD48. These agents were tested in conjunction with T-cell debulking by anti-CD4 and anti-CD8 antibodies or with conventional immunosuppressive drugs. Engraftment and functional development of E42 pig pancreatic tissue was monitored by immunohistology and by measuring pig insulin blood levels.

RESULTS

Fetal pig pancreatic tissue harvested at E42, or even as early as at E28, was fiercely rejected in C57BL/6 mice and in Lewis rats. A novel immune suppression comprising anti-LFA1, anti-CD48, and FTY720 afforded optimal growth and functional development. Cessation of treatment with anti-LFA1 and anti-CD48 at 3 months posttransplant did not lead to graft rejection, and graft maintenance could be achieved for >8 months with twice-weekly low-dose FTY720 treatment. These grafts exhibited normal morphology and were functional, as revealed by the high pig insulin blood levels in the transplanted mice and by the ability of the recipients to resist alloxan induced diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS

This novel protocol, comprising agents that simulate those approved for clinical use, offer an attractive approach for embryonic xenogeneic transplantation. Further studies in nonhuman primates are warranted.

Nanoscale increases in CD2-CD48-mediated intermembrane spacing decrease adhesion and reorganize the immunological synapse

The relationship between intermembrane spacing, adhesion efficiency, and lateral organization of adhesion receptors has not been established for any adhesion system. We have utilized the CD2 ligand CD48 with two (wild type CD48 (CD48-WT)), four (CD48-CD2), or five (CD48-CD22) Ig-like domains. CD48-WT was 10-fold more efficient in mediating adhesion than CD48-CD2 or CD48-CD22. Electron tomography of contact areas with planar bilayers demonstrated average intermembrane spacing of 12.8 nm with CD48-WT, 14.7 nm with CD48-CD2, and 15.6 nm with CD48-CD22. Both CD48-CD2 and CD48-CD22 chimeras segregated completely from CD48-WT in mixed contact areas. In contrast, CD48-CD2 and CD48-CD22 co-localized when mixed contacts were formed. Confocal imaging of immunological synapses formed between primary T lymphocytes and Chinese hamster ovary cells presenting major histocompatibility complex-peptide complexes, and different forms of CD48 demonstrated that CD48-CD2 and CD48-CD22 induce an eccentric CD2/T cell antigen receptor cluster. We propose that this reorganization of the immunological synapse sequesters the T cell antigen receptor in a location where it cannot interact with its ligand and dramatically reduces T cell sensitivity.

Human and porcine early kidney precursors as a new source for transplantation

Kidney transplantation has been one of the major medical advances of the past 30 years. However, tissue availability remains a major obstacle. This can potentially be overcome by the use of undifferentiated or partially developed kidney precursor cells derived from early embryos and fetal tissue. Here, transplantation in mice reveals the earliest gestational time point at which kidney precursor cells, of both human and pig origin, differentiate into functional nephrons and not into other, non-renal professional cell types. Moreover, successful organogenesis is achieved when using the early kidney precursors, but not later-gestation kidneys. The formed, miniature kidneys are functional as evidenced by the dilute urine they produce. In addition, decreased immunogenicity of the transplants of early human and pig kidney precursors compared with adult kidney transplants is demonstrated in vivo. Our data pinpoint a window of human and pig kidney organogenesis that may be optimal for transplantation in humans.

Enhanced stability of laccase in the presence of phenolic compounds

The storage stability of laccase (EC 1.10.3.2) from the white-rot basidomycete Trametes versicolor in potassium-citrate buffer was enhanced by various phenolic compounds as well as by lignin sulfonate. The highest storage stability was obtained with phenolics, e.g. phloroglucin and 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid; these represent substrates of laccase which are oxidized slowly because of their relatively high redox potential and which did not precipitate from the solution within the tested period of time. Sterilization enhanced the stability of laccase but additional stabilization by phenolics was observed both under sterile and non-sterile conditions. We thus concluded that stabilization occurred not only through prevention of microbial degradation.

Chemoenzymatical grafting of acrylamide onto lignin

Laccase (E.C.1.10.3.2.) from white-rot basidiomycete Trametes versicolor and dioxane peroxides were essential in the copolymerization of acrylamide and a derivative with lignin in a dioxane-H(2)O (7:3) mixture. Both a solubility test and an elemental analysis of the eluted and separated fractions provided evidence of grafting. Gel permeation chromatography on Sephadex G-100 showed that the side chain and the lignin backbone migrate as one unit through the column. Copolymers obtained were characterized by UV-VIS-spectroscopy as well as FT-IR, and 13C-CPMAS-NMR spectroscopy. Freeze-dried copolymers of lignin and acrylamide appeared as homogeneous fibril-like particulate. The mechanism of the enzymatical grafting is discussed.