Either the volunteer or a relative gave their written informed consent, and the study was approved by the ethical committee of Hospital District of Southwest Finland. Exclusion criteria were the consumption of antibiotics in the last selleck month and use of medication expected to either affect the immune function and/or the intestinal microbiota of the subject. Another exclusion criterion was the habitual use of pro- and/or prebiotic-containing products. The study protocol consisted of three consecutive phases. In phase 1, the subjects

consumed a control cheese during breakfast for 2 weeks (run-in). In phase 2, the subjects consumed a probiotic cheese for 4 weeks (intervention). In phase 3, the subjects consumed the same control cheese Selumetinib manufacturer again for 4 weeks (wash-out). The products were blinded to the volunteers and were identical in taste and appearance. The total duration of the study was 10 weeks, and during the time, the food at the elderly home remained stable. Heparinized peripheral blood (9 mL) was drawn by a venipuncture from each subject at baseline (T0), after run-in (T1), after intervention (T2), and after wash-out (T3) for immunological analysis. On the same occasion, a blood sample was collected for general health monitoring tests carried out at the University of Turku Hospital. The probiotic and the control Gouda cheese were commercial products (Mills DA, Oslo, Norway). Identical slices

of both types of cheese (15 g) were prepared and packed before the commencement of the study. The probiotic cheese slice contained approximately 109 CFU of L. rhamnosus HN001 (AGAL NM97/09514) and L. acidophilus NCFM (ATCC 700396). The viability of the strains was assessed throughout the study and was observed to remain stable. Both probiotic and control cheese contained proprietary starter strains (Choozit 712™, Danisco, Paris). The volunteers consumed one slice of cheese per day during breakfast. The probiotic cheese had been on the Norwegian

market for approximately 1 year. The probiotic strains Enzalutamide cost have been in commercial use for approximately 7 years (L. rhamnosus HN001) and 30 years (L. acidophilus NCFM) and have substantial safety and efficacy data (Shu et al., 1999; Zhou et al., 2000; Gill & Rutherfurd, 2001; Sanders & Klaenhammer, 2001; Sheih et al., 2001). The same probiotic cheese was tested for bacterial survival using a human gastrointestinal tract-simulating model, and it was shown that the strains (L. acidophilus NCFM and L. rhamnosus HN001) survived the simulated upper gastrointestinal tract (Makelainen et al., 2009). The cytotoxicity of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), proportions of CD3−CD56+ cells (NK cells), CD3+CD56+ cells (NKT cells), CD3+CD56− cells, and CD3−CD56− cells in the total PBMCs, and phagocytic activity were assessed using flow cytometry (FACScan flow cytometer, BD biosciences). The data were analyzed using cellquest pro software.

brasiliensis can induce an asthma-like pathology when delivered intranasally to sensitized mice, including eosinophilia and production of IgE and Type 2 cytokines (38). Cross-regulation of Type 1 and Type 2 cytokines has been

an area of profound interest in immunology for the last 25 years and studies Selleckchem Fulvestrant with N. brasiliensis have contributed to the in vivo confirmation, or in some cases, a “reality check”, on the myriad of in vitro studies. Intranasal delivery of Mycobacterium bovis-Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG), a strong inducer of Type 1 cytokines, can inhibit local and regional production of Type 2 cytokines and airway eosinophilia induced by N. brasiliensis and this is dependent on IFN-γ (39). Conversely, IL-4 can inhibit generation of IL-2 in a Blimp-1-dependent manner (40). Le Gros’ former postgraduate students Ben Marsland and Nicola Harris (now at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland) continue to use N. brasiliensis to develop our understanding of helper T cell differentiation

and function. Their recent publications develop on Selleckchem DMXAA interests from the Le Gros laboratory, including the roles of protein kinase C theta (41), IL-21 (42) and parasite products (43) in the differentiation of Type 2 cytokine-secreting CD4+ T cells and in the immunopathology of inflammatory lung disease (44). Although blood and tissue eosinophilia are often seen in humans with tissue-invasive helminth infections, it is not easy to determine whether these leucocytes can protect against parasites (45). Studies of N. brasiliensis infections conducted in Lindsay Dent’s laboratory (University of Adelaide, South Australia) began in 1993, aided by the earlier experiences of his colleague Graham Mayrhofer, who had explored IgE and mast cell responses in infected rats (46–49). Dent, Mayrhofer and colleagues set out

to explore the role of eosinophils in resistance to N. brasiliensis and other nematodes using CD2/IL-5 Resminostat transgenic (Tg) mice generated in Colin Sanderson’s laboratory at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR, Mill Hill, UK) (50). These animals, originally produced on a CBA/Ca background and later also backcrossed into the BALB/c and C57BL/6 backgrounds (51), have constitutive eosinophilia in the peripheral blood, spleen and bone marrow. Early experiments initiated at NIMR suggested that IL-5 Tg mice do not have enhanced resistance to primary peritoneal infection with the cestode Mesocestoides corti (52), or primary or vaccine-induced resistance to the trematode Schistosoma mansoni (53) and also develop only modest lung inflammation and pathology in response to the aeroallergen chicken ovalbumin (OVA) (54). As with infections with S. mansoni (53), IL-5 Tg mice are also actually more susceptible than wild-type (WT) littermates to T. spiralis (54) and Plasmodium chabaudi (Dent and Brown, unpublished). Our findings with primary T.

Moreover, emerging evidence supports a direct correlation between DC numbers and the proliferation rate of peripheral Treg. Thus, Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L) treatment, which results in the in vivo expansion of classical DC (cDC) 11 leads to a concomitant increase in peripheral Treg 12, 13. Furthermore, it was recently demonstrated that the conditional ablation of cDC from otherwise intact animals results in reduced numbers and impaired homeostatic proliferation of peripheral Treg 13. Here, we readdressed the

role of cDC in the maintenance of peripheral Treg focusing on the role of CD80/86 costimulation. Using constitutive and conditional cDC ablation strategies, we established that peripheral Treg maintenance critically

depends on the presence of cDC expressing CD80/86. Surprisingly however and defying earlier notions 13, 14, the reduction of Treg in animals BMS-907351 clinical trial lacking cDC as such was not inherently associated with lymphocyte activation. Rather than resulting from a tolerance Afatinib concentration failure, the autoinflammatory signatures reported for cDC-deficient mice are thus a consequence of the nonmalignant myeloproliferative disorder these animals develop. We and others recently reported that animals that constitutively lack cDC (CD11c-DTA mice) display normal percentages and numbers of thymic Foxp3+ Treg 14, 15, thereby establishing that DC are dispensable for the generation of nTreg. Moreover, CD11c-DTA mice retained functional peripheral Treg 15. However, closer examination of the blood circulation and LN of cDC-deficient animals and comparison to their littermate controls revealed

a twofold reduction in the frequencies of Treg out of total CD4+ T cells, whose numbers are unaltered 15 (Fig. 1A). This reduction of peripheral Foxp3+ Treg was also observed upon conditional cDC ablation, as achieved through repetitive diphtheria toxin (DTx) treatment of [CD11c-DTR>WT] BM chimeras (Fig. 1B) 16, thereby confirming recent reports that established the critical role of cDC Adenosine in promoting the homeostatic Treg proliferation 13, 17. Re-examination of Treg frequencies in cDC-deficient animals by staining for both Foxp3 and CD25 revealed a twofold reduction of Foxp3+CD25+ (double positive) Treg in all organs tested, including the spleen (Fig. 1C–E). Interestingly though, the decrease of splenic Foxp3+CD25+ Treg was uniquely associated with a concomitant elevation in the frequencies of Foxp3+CD25− (single positive) cells out of CD4+ T cells (Fig. 1E). This finding explains the reason why the splenic Foxp3+ T-cell compartment of cDC-deficient CD11c:DTA mice had, in the previous studies, appeared unaffected 14, 15. Collectively, these data establish that although cDC are not required for the generation of nTreg in the thymus, they are – in agreement with recent reports 13, 17 – critically involved in the maintenance of peripheral Foxp3+CD25+ Treg.

H-gal-GP is a complex; the component proteins of which have not been separated without the aid of denaturing conditions. Under native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), the complex runs as one large band of about 1 mDa and different batches show consistent band patterns on SDS PAGE (7). Visual confirmation of the complex has been provided by electron

microscopy (8). The predominant components of H-gal-GP have been identified as proteases including two pepsin-like aspartyl proteases, four metalloendopeptidases and a family of cysteine proteases (7). These proteases have been separated from the denatured complex, but when these or recombinant versions of them were evaluated in vaccine trials the degree of protection afforded was much lower than that obtained with the intact complex (9,10). Enzymatic

assays have been carried out to ascertain the function learn more of H-gal-GP and its component parts (7,11,12). The complex digests Wnt inhibitor haemoglobin with the maximum overnight turnover observed at pH 4·0; an activity which is reduced by 91% in the presence of pepstatin A. It also cleaves the aspartyl protease peptide substrate PTEFF(NO2)RL with a maximum hydrolysis rate observed at pH 5·0 (7,11). The identification of the major H-gal-GP component proteins as proteases, together with its location on the luminal surface of the parasite intestinal cells, supports the hypothesis that it is involved in the digestion of the blood meal. When sheep are immunized with H-gal-GP, they respond with high titres of antibody and it is hypothesized that such antibodies might inhibit digestion of the blood meal, leading to starvation of the parasite. The main aim of this study was to investigate these hypotheses by quantitatively monitoring the digestion of

ovine haemoglobin by H-gal-GP and to determine whether this process could be inhibited by specific antibodies. H-gal-GP was prepared from 21-day adult H.  contortus as described previously with the addition of 0·25% CHAPS to the peanut elution Rebamipide buffer containing 0·5 m galactose in 10 mm Tris–HCl, 0·5 m NaCl, 0·02% NaN3 with 100 μm Ca2+ 10 μm Mg2+ at pH 7·4 and replacing Triton X-100 with CHAPS in the desalt buffer (used with the Sephadex G-25 column) (13). The resulting desalted H-gal-GP was concentrated using an Amicon Ultra-15 centrifugal device, passed through a 0·22-μm syringe filter and stored at −20°C in 100-μL aliquots. Seventeen millilitre of blood from worm-free sheep at the Moredun Research Institute, collected in sodium heparin tubes, was mixed gently with cold PBS, added to a total volume of 100 mL and centrifuged at 600 × g, 4°C for 10 min. The solution separated during centrifugation and the red blood cell pellet was retained. This step was repeated five times.

Secondly, 8–9-week-old euglycaemic female NOD mice were divided into four 16-mice experimental groups treated with human apoTf at doses of 0·1, 1 and 2·5 mg/kg or PBS six times a week for

12 consecutive weeks [13]. These treatment regimens were chosen on the basis of selleck chemicals llc the different natural course of disease development in the DP-BB rats and the NOD mouse. Most female NOD mice, which exhibit a higher incidence of the disease than males, develop hyperglycaemia by the age of 35 weeks after a prolonged prediabetic period characterized from progressive insulitis that initiates from the age of 4–5 weeks [14]. In contrast, T1DM, that has a similar incidence in male and female DP-BB rats, is characterized from a more rapid course than that observed in the NOD mouse, with most of the animals developing diabetes by the age of 120 days after a short period of insulitis that develops in a non-synchronous manner between the ages of

30 and 60 days [15]. Accordingly, both in the NOD mice and the DP-BB rats, we initiate treatment under a ‘late prophylactic’ at a time when most of the animals have developed signs of insulitis. As established previously, type 1 diabetes was diagnosed in the presence of 2 consecutive days of detectable glycosuria and plasma glucose levels ≥200 mg/dl [12] using a FreeStyle Glucometer (Abbot, Abbot Park, IL, USA) and all experiments were performed in duplicate. Animals were killed when the diagnosis check details was made. To evaluate the impact of apoTf on the development of insulitis and the production of cytokines, euglycaemic 5-week-old female NOD mice were treated for 12 consecutive weeks with either apoTf (2·5 mg/kg, n = 24) or its vehicle (n = 20) and then killed to collect pancreas, blood samples, spleens and pancreatic lymph nodes for histological and immunological analyses [16]. For the histological examination of pancreatic islets, samples were fixed in Bouin’s solution embedded in paraffin for light microscopy [17]. Serial sections (5 µm thick) were stained with haematoxylin and Protein Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor eosin and

only sections containing 10 or more islets were selected to be graded blindly by two observers (0, no infiltrate; 1, periductular infiltrate; 2 peri-islet infiltrate; 3 intra-islet infiltrate; and 4, intra-islet infiltrate associated with beta cell destruction) [18]. Pancreatic lymph nodes and spleens were isolated aseptically and minced to yield single-cell suspensions in culture medium with RPMI-1640 added with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Sigma), 2 mM L-glutamine, 10 mM HEPES, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 100 units/ml penicillin and 5 µg/ml streptomycin (Gibco, Grand Island, NY, USA). After centrifuging spleen cell suspensions at 300 g for 10 min, red blood cells were lysed with 3 ml of chilled red blood cell lysis buffer (Sigma) on ice for 5 min and then washed three times with chilled culture medium.

2009CB522407). The authors have no financial conflict of interest. “
“The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine to Ralph Steinmann, Jules Hoffmann, and Bruce Beutler recognized a paradigm shift in our understanding of innate immunity, and its impact on adaptive immunity. The Prize highlighted

the initial discoveries of Toll’s role in immunity in flies, Toll-like receptors in mammals, and the establishment of dendritic cells as the initiators of adaptive immunity. This historical Commentary focuses on the developments in our understanding of innate immunity. In 1908, the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine went jointly to Ilya Ilyrich Metchnikoff, the original champion of cellular immunity, and Paul Ehrlich, then ambassador of humoral defenses, “in recognition of their work in immunity.” Metchnikoff advocated the idea that phagocytic cells, far from being harmful to the organism, as was the Alisertib concentration current paradigm, in fact constituted a first

line of defense by nonspecifically ingesting and digesting invading pathogens and other foreign material [[1]]. His cellular theory of immunity, however, was challenged when Emil von Behring and Shibasaburo Kitasato discovered that immunity to tetanus and diphtheria was explained MK-2206 mouse by antibodies (Abs) specific for their respective exotoxins [[2]]. Subsequently, Ehrlich proposed the “side-chain theory” to explain how Abs functioned [[3]]. However, the discovery by Almoth Wright and Stewart Douglas that “the body fluids modify bacteria in a manner which renders them ready prey to phagocytes” (where body fluids can now be interpreted as Abs in immunized animals) was the first report that

both branches (cellular and humoral) of the immune system may work together [[4]]. Wright named this observation the “opsonic phenomenon,” and the factors were called opsonins (from the Greek opsono (I prepare victuals for)). Even Ehrlich, an enthusiastic Methocarbamol believer in humoral immunity, acknowledged in his landmark review of 1908 [[5]] that infections are cleared by cellular and humoral immunity. Nevertheless, most immunologists at that time became followers of the humoral theory to explain how immune defenses worked, mainly because Abs could be easily studied in a test tube. Therefore—and perhaps mirroring the work of the more chemically oriented Ehrlich—immunology began to shift from cellular immunology toward chemistry, led by scientists such as Karl Landsteiner, Felix Haurowitz, Michael Heidelberger, John Marrack, and Linus Pauling. In the early 1960s, the tide changed again and immunology transformed from a chemical to a more biological discipline mainly through the work of N. Avrion Mitchison [[6]] and Peter Medawar [[7]] who showed that cellular rather than humoral mechanisms were sufficient to account for allograft rejection, immunological tolerance, and resistance and memory against tumors.

24 The persistent myocardial necrosis that leads to an elevated troponin in patients on dialysis has been attributed to left ventricular hypertrophy61 or coronary artery atherosclerosis.2 However, studies Alectinib supplier using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging have demonstrated that troponin may be high without evidence of myocardial infarction, suggesting that pathologies such as microcirculatory disturbances or increased sympathetic tone may explain the increase in troponin.62 Although there is strong evidence that elevated troponin confers a poorer prognosis in an asymptomatic patient undergoing dialysis,

there is currently no evidence to support biomarker-guided therapy for the individual patient. The most practical reason for measuring troponin in this context is to determine a ‘baseline’ level for each patient that can be referred to if the patient subsequently presents with cardiac symptoms. Whether cTnT or cTnI is measured in this context is not as important as that the same assay be used subsequently. As a tool for identifying patients

at risk, cTnT may be superior to cTnI because the evidence is more robust and interpretable for this assay, largely because of better standardization of assays than cTnI, and Birinapant because measuring cTnT with current assays will identify more patients at risk. However, elevated cTnI had a stronger mortality association than cTnT in one large study, although this may be due to the chosen cut-off for cTnI being higher than that used for cTnT because of different assay characteristics.43 The performance of troponin assays continues to improve and ‘high-sensitivity’ assays are being developed

that may make the proportion of patients receiving dialysis with elevated cTnI more similar to that with elevated cTnT.22 Regardless of the differences between assays or why the troponin was measured, an abnormal troponin level should underscore the need to carefully review the patient, who is at least twice as likely to die as the patient without elevated troponin. Elevated levels of BNP are also Bay 11-7085 associated with poorer survival in patients undergoing both haemodialysis43,47,48 and peritoneal dialysis.44,63 The association of NT-BNP-76 with mortality was independent of left ventricular ejection fraction in one study44 and both NT-BNP-76 and extracellular fluid volume overload were independent predictors of cardiovascular mortality in another.64 Patients whose NT-BNP-76 increased at 90 days in the highest tertile of change (≥429 ng/L) had a more than twofold risk of death compared with patients experiencing the lowest tertile of change.47 Although most studies measured NT-BNP-76, higher levels of BNP-32 are also associated with mortality.5 Potential causes of elevated BNP levels in patients undergoing dialysis include systolic dysfunction,5 diastolic dysfunction,65 increased left ventricular mass49 and coronary artery disease.

The HII infants included in our study suffered mild-to-moderate severity of illness as evidenced by Sarnat stage ranging from I–II. Additional information on severity of illness for the HII group, including number of subjects who required therapeutic hypothermia and/or suffered seizures, 1-min and 5-min Apgar scores and initial blood pH, is detailed in Table 1. Exclusion criteria were any chronic fetal or infant factors such as IUGR, maternal

learn more drug use, maternal diabetes, metabolic disorder, congenital malformations, or severe quadriplegia or significant abnormality in vision or eye movements. Typically developing participants were recruited from the Research Participant Registry of the Laboratories BIBW2992 mw of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children’s Hospital. Hypoxic-ischemic injury and CON participants were included in the final sample if they had sufficient data from either the eye-tracking or the ERP paradigm. Four

infants (3 CON and 1 HII) were excluded because they missed their Day 2 appointment (and therefore had neither Day 2 eye-tracking nor ERP data to analyze). An additional 21 infants were excluded (17 CON and four HII) because they did not meet criteria for inclusion in the eye-tracking analysis (criteria described under data analysis—visual paired comparison) and they did not provide the minimum number of artifact-free trials in the ERP task. Further, two HII infants were excluded from subsequent analyses due to severe motor and visual impairment. Project approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of Boston Children’s Hospital, and informed consent was obtained by the parents of each infant participant. The CON and HII groups were matched on both age (t(32) = .27, p = .79, d = 0.14) and socioeconomic status, as estimated by parental income (t(28) = .42, p = .68, d = 0.16). Mirabegron Additionally, the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (Mullen, 1995) was administered to assess

cognitive ability. An early learning composite score (ELC) was calculated for each participant based on performance across four subscales: Visual reception, fine motor, receptive language, and expressive language. No difference was found between HII and CON infants on the ELC (t(31) = .36, p = .72, d = 0.13; see Table 2, for each group’s mean and standard deviation for age in days, income index, and Mullen ELC). Stimuli for the eye-tracking and ERP tasks consisted of color photographs of female faces displaying neutral expressions. Each woman was seated in front of a gray background and wearing a gray cloth to cover their clothing. Face images were taken from a database of women who participated in other studies with their infants and signed a release for use of their image in future research.

In parallel studies, 0·3 µM [3H]-thymidine was added after 60 h of culture, and incorporation was determined 12 h later. Cytokine production in the supernatant was determined by standard sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for IL-2, IL-4, TNF-α and IFN-γ (Biolegend, San Diego, CA, USA). For in

vivo priming, B6 mice received intravenous (i.v.) 4 × 105 purified DC that were incubated with irradiated ActmOVA-Kbm1 T cells, as described above. Apoptotic cells were removed from the DC populations using the apoptotic cell removal kit (Miltenyi Biotec, Auburn, CA, USA). CD8+ T cell responses were analysed in spleens 7 days after DC transfer using intracellular cytokine staining to IFN-γ and TNF-α upon incubation with OVA257–264 (5 µg/ml) or control peptide

Rucaparib mw TRP-2180–188 (5 µg/ml) for 5 h in the presence of brefeldin A. Surface staining for CD8 and CD44 and intracellular cytokine staining for IFN-γ was performed using a Cytofix/Cytoperm kit (BD Pharmingen, La Jolla, CA, USA), according to the manufacturer’s instructions [12,41]. For memory CD8+ T cell assessment, an in vivo cytotoxicity assay was performed 28 days after DC treatment. Briefly, mice received CFSEhigh-labelled splenocyte pulsed with OVA257–264 Talazoparib concentration (target cells) mixed with an equal number of CFSEmedium-labelled control cells. Twenty-four h later the ratio of CFSElow/CFSEhigh cells was determined by flow cytometry [42]. OVA-specific CD4+ T helper type 1 (Th1) and Th2 cells were enumerated by enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT) 10 days after DC transfer after a 48-h in vitro stimulation with OVA323–339 Etofibrate (10 µg/ml), control peptide GP61–80 (10 µg/ml) or concanavalin A (ConA) (2 µg/ml; positive control), as described previously [43]. Challenge model.  Mice received i.v. 5 × 105 purified DC that were incubated with irradiated ActmOVA-Kbm1 T cells. Seven days later,

mice were challenged by subcutaneous (s.c.) injection of 2 × 106 EL-4-mOVA cells in the left flank and 2 × 106 EL-4 cells in the right flank. Tumour growth was measured every second day with vernier calipers. Tumour size was calculated as the product of bisecting tumour diameters. Therapeutic model.  In the therapeutic approach, mice were inoculated with 2 × 106 live EL-4-mOVA cells on the left flank and 2 × 106 EL-4 as control on the right flank. As soon as palpable tumours had formed, mice received 1 × 106 purified DC that had been exposed to irradiated ActmOVA cells, and tumour growth was monitored daily with a vernier caliper. In parallel studies mice received only EL-4-mOVA cells in the left flank to determine long-term survival, reoccurrence of tumours and possible loss of OVA-tumour antigen. Unless stated otherwise, the data are expressed as means [standard error of the mean (s.e.m.)]. Survival responses were analysed by Kaplan–Meyer using a log-rank test.

The mean clinicalEAEscore was only mildly reduced inDC-depleted mice when DCs were ablated beforeEAEinduction. The frequency of activatedTh cells was not altered, andMOG-inducedTh17 orTh1-cell responses were not altered, in the spleens ofDC-depleted mice. Similar results were obtained ifDCswere ablated the first 10 days afterMOGimmunization with repeatedDCdepletions.

Unexpectedly, transient depletion of DCs did not affect priming or differentiation of MOG-inducedTh17 andTh1-cell selleck chemical responses or the incidence ofEAE. Thus, the mechansim of priming ofTh cells inEAEremains to be elucidated. Dendritic cells (DCs) are key actors of adaptive immune responses against infections [1-3]. There are several DC subsets in mice which are characterized by differential expression of cell surface markers and their location;

e.g. myeloid DCs (mDCs), plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs), dermal DCs, CD11b+ DCs, and CD11b− DCs [4, 5]. Ly6Chi monocytes are considered to be precursors of inflammatory DCs (inflDCs) which are recruited to site of inflammation [4]. InflDCs express intermediate to high levels of CD11c and MHC class II (MHC II). mDCs are highly specialized in priming naïve T cells in vitro Erlotinib mouse [3]. In vivo depletion of murine CD11c+ mDCs by diphtheria toxin (DTx)-based transgenic systems has demonstrated an indispensible role for DCs during priming of CD8+ T-cell responses to viruses, intracellular bacteria and malaria parasites [1, 6]. Priming of Th1 responses and Th2 responses to parasites also depends on DCs [2, 7]. Furthermore, ablation of DCs leads to dissemination L-gulonolactone oxidase of Streptococcus pyogenes [8]. In contrast, constitutive ablation of CD11c+ DCs leads to spontaneous fatal autoimmunity, high numbers of Th17 and Th1 cells and production of autoantibodies such as antinuclear Ab [9]. This suggests that DC-mediated deletion of autoreactive single-positive thymocytes is important and failure leads to the observed pathology [9]. Constitutive

deletion of DCs in vivo in lupus-prone mice results in amelioration of disease, but DCs are not required for initial priming of autoimmune Th cells. Instead, DCs are important for functional differentiation and expansion of T cells [10]. Little is known about the role of mDCs in priming and de novo differentiation of autoimmune Th cells in the organ-specific autoimmune disease EAE, an animal model for human multiple sclerosis [11]. We have previously demonstrated that myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-induced EAE is mediated by MyD88-dependent mechanisms [12]. IL-6 expression by mDCs depended on MyD88 and was upregulated between 4 and 10 days after MOG immunization [12]. Furthermore, depletion of pDC prior to MOG immunization ameliorated the clinical and histopathological signs of MOG-induced EAE compared with control mice [13].