1,721,065 research outputs found
Htlv-1 infection and pathogenesis: New insights from cellular and animal models
Full text linkSince the discovery of the human T-cell leukemia virus-1 (HTLV-1), cellular and animal models have provided invaluable contributions in the knowledge of viral infection, transmission and progression of HTLV-associated diseases. HTLV-1 is the causative agent of the aggressive adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma and inflammatory diseases such as the HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Cell models contribute to defining the role of HTLV proteins, as well as the mechanisms of cell-to-cell transmission of the virus. Otherwise, selected and engineered animal models are currently applied to recapitulate in vivo the HTLV-1 associated pathogenesis and to verify the effectiveness of viral therapy and host immune response. Here we review the current cell models for studying virus–host interaction, cellular restriction factors and cell pathway deregulation mediated by HTLV products. We recapitulate the most effective animal models applied to investigate the pathogenesis of HTLV-1-associated diseases such as transgenic and humanized mice, rabbit and monkey models. Finally, we summarize the studies on STLV and BLV, two closely related HTLV-1 viruses in animals. The most recent anticancer and HAM/TSP therapies are also discussed in view of the most reliable experimental models that may accelerate the translation from the experimental findings to effective therapies in infected patients
Unveiling the hidden treasury: Ciita-driven mhc class ii expression in tumor cells to dig up the relevant repertoire of tumor antigens for optimal stimulation of tumor specific cd4+ t helper cells
Full text linkDespite the recent enthusiasm generated by novel immunotherapeutic approaches against cancer based on immune checkpoint inhibitors, it becomes increasingly clear that single immune-based strategies are not sufficient to defeat the various forms and types of tumors. Within this frame, novel vaccination strategies that are based on optimal stimulation of the key cell governing adaptive immunity, the CD4+ T helper cell, will certainly help in constructing more efficient treatments. In this review, we will focus on this aspect, mainly describing our past and recent contributions that, starting with a rather unorthodox approach, have ended up with the proposition of a new idea for making available an unprecedented extended repertoire of tumor antigens, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, to tumor-specific CD4+ T helper cells. Our approach is based on rendering the very same tumor cells antigen presenting cells for their own tumor antigens by gene transfer of CIITA, the major transcriptional coordinator of MHC class II expression discovered in our laboratory. CIITA-driven MHC class II-expressing tumor cells optimally stimulate in vivo tumor specific MHC class II-restricted CD4 T cells generating specific and long lasting protective immunity against the tumor. We will discuss the mechanism underlying protection and elaborate not only on the applicability of this approach for novel vaccination strategies amenable to clinical setting, but also on the consequence of our discoveries on sedimented immunological dogmas that are related to antigen presentation
Reply to the Letter to the Editor: “Importance of nasal secretions in the evaluation of mucosal immunity elicited by mRNA BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine” by Francavilla B et al.: Lack of a strong oral mucosal immune response: rethinking the route of COVID-19 vaccine boost administration?
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Inibizione della replicazione virale di HIV-1 e HTLV-2 da parte di CIITA, il regolatore trascrizionale dell'espressione dell'HLA-II
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Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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