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Using Systems Biology to understand asthma exacerbations and develop better treatmentsAlexander Anthony Deborah Emma Pat Larcombe Kicic Strickland de Jong Holt BScEnv (Hons) PhD BSc (Hons) PhD PhD PhD, DSc, FRCPath, FRCPI, FAA Honorary
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Personal network inference unveils heterogeneous immune response patterns to viral infection in children with acute wheezingHuman rhinovirus (RV)-induced exacerbations of asthma and wheeze are a major cause of emergency room presentations and hospital admissions among children. Previous studies have shown that immune response patterns during these exacerbations are heterogeneous and are characterized by the presence or absence of robust interferon responses.
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Directing the future breakthroughs in immunotherapy: The importance of a holistic approach to the tumour microenvironmentImmunotherapy has revolutionised the treatment of cancers by exploiting the immune system to eliminate tumour cells. Despite the impressive response in a proportion of patients, clinical benefit has been limited thus far.
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Protection against neonatal respiratory viral infection via maternal treatment during pregnancy with the benign immune training agent OM-85Incomplete maturation of immune regulatory functions at birth is antecedent to the heightened risk for severe respiratory infections during infancy. Our forerunner animal model studies demonstrated that maternal treatment with the microbial-derived immune training agent OM-85 during pregnancy promotes accelerated postnatal maturation of mechanisms that regulate inflammatory processes in the offspring airways.
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Mapping the landscape of chromatin dynamics during naïve CD4+ T-cell activationT-cell activation induces context-specific gene expression programs that promote energy generation and biosynthesis, progression through the cell cycle and ultimately cell differentiation. The aim of this study was to apply the omni ATAC-seq method to characterize the landscape of chromatin changes induced by T-cell activation in mature naïve CD4+ T-cells.
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PPARalpha and PPARgamma activation is associated with pleural mesothelioma invasion but therapeutic inhibition is ineffectiveMesothelioma is a cancer that typically originates in the pleura of the lungs. It rapidly invades the surrounding tissues, causing pain and shortness of breath. We compared cell lines injected either subcutaneously or intrapleurally and found that only the latter resulted in invasive and rapid growth.
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Fine-Tuning the Tumour Microenvironment: Current Perspectives on the Mechanisms of Tumour ImmunosuppressionImmunotherapy has revolutionised the treatment of cancers by harnessing the power of the immune system to eradicate malignant tissue. However, it is well recognised that some cancers are highly resistant to these therapies, which is in part attributed to the immunosuppressive landscape of the tumour microenvironment (TME). The contexture of the TME is highly heterogeneous and contains a complex architecture of immune, stromal, vascular and tumour cells in addition to acellular components such as the extracellular matrix. While understanding the dynamics of the TME has been instrumental in predicting durable responses to immunotherapy and developing new treatment strategies, recent evidence challenges the fundamental paradigms of how tumours can effectively subvert immunosurveillance. Here, we discuss the various immunosuppressive features of the TME and how fine-tuning these mechanisms, rather than ablating them completely, may result in a more comprehensive and balanced anti-tumour response.
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QuantSeq. 3′ Sequencing combined with Salmon provides a fast, reliable approach for high throughput RNA expression analysisQuantSeq, coupled with a fast quantification method such as Salmon, should provide a viable alternative to traditional RNA-Seq in many applications
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Progressive increase of FcεRI expression across several PBMC subsets is associated with atopy and atopic asthma within school-aged childrenThe expression pattern of FcεRI on DC and basophils differentiates asthmatic from non-asthmatic atopic children
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Sensitization to immune checkpoint blockade through activation of a STAT1/NK axis in the tumor microenvironmentOur results identify a pretreatment tumor microenvironment that predicts response to immune checkpoint blockade, which can be therapeutically attained