However, T lymphocytes’ proliferation

was reduced with increased subject age, and the tumouricidal activities of PBMC-derived CIK cells exhibited a tendency to decrease with ageing [19]. There is evidence showing that reduced T cell proliferation may be attributed to the high ratio of cholesterol to phospholipids in the cell membranes of lymphocytes in the elderly, which increases the cell membrane viscosity and reduces lymphocyte proliferation. In addition, deficiencies in IL-2 receptors on T cells might be another cause of impaired T cell proliferation [20, 21]. Although the peripheral lymphocyte subsets remained unchanged with ageing, T cell proliferation was reduced and the tumouricidal activities of PBMC-derived CIK cells declined with an increase in age. Thus, the incidence of compromised immune function, infectious diseases and malignancies could increase selleck inhibitor significantly. We are thankful to Dr. Chen Ping-yan (Department of Medical Statistics) for

statistical guidance. This study was financially supported by research grants (No. 2007Z3-E0121 and 2010GN-E00221) from Guangzhou Science and Technology Research Program and Guangzhou Bureau of Science and Technology Opaganib purchase and Information. “
“DCs play a key role in defense against infections and also in preventing inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The response of DCs to pathogens is tightly regulated by many mechanisms to allow for appropriate, but not pathogenic, responses. We previously showed that DCs with deficiencies

for two ITAM-bearing signaling adapters, DAP12 and FcRγ, produce more inflammatory cytokines upon check treatment with Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists than WT DCs. Here, we investigated whether the TREM-2 receptor pairs with DAP12 to inhibit TLR responses in DCs. TREM-2-deficient BMDCs showed increased inflammatory cytokine and type I IFN production in response to TLR ligation. Additionally, TREM-2-deficient BMDCs had increased TLR-induced maturation and were more efficient at inducing antigen-specific T-cell proliferation upon CpG DNA stimulation compared with WT BMDCs. Finally, we showed that a TREM-2 ligand is expressed on the surface of BMDCs, suggesting that the TREM-2 receptor transduces inhibitory signals due to recognition of an endogenous ligand. DCs link the innate and adaptive immune system 1–3 and play an important role in host-defense by producing pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines after pathogen recognition through pattern recognition receptors such as TLRs 4, 5. TLRs recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) using the extracellular leucine-rich repeat region 6. After TLR ligation, TLRs recruit MyD88 and/or TRIF via the TLR-IL-1R (TIR) domain in the cytoplasmic region resulting in the initiation of downstream signaling 6. TLR signaling is essential for the function of DCs and macrophages in response to infection with many pathogens.