Journal of Cellular Immunology

The recently published manuscript entitled “Epigenetically Altered T Cells Contribute to Lupus Flares” summarizes recent advances in our understanding of how the environment alters the immune system to cause flares of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in genetically predisposed people, and why it affects women approximately 9 times more often than men

In 1989, researchers proposed an intricate strategy in the field of adoptive cell therapy (ACT). Using the T-cell receptor (TCR) as a template, they replaced the coding sequence for the Vα and Vβ chains with the antigen- recognition domains from an antibody (VH and VL chains).

Over the last 10 to 15 years the treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies has seen the blossom of a large number of new agents and even new treatment strategies. Monoclonal antibodies (MoAb), TKI inhibitors, checkpoint inhibitors have been introduced in the daily clinical practice and contributed significantly to the improvement of the outcome of hematologic patients. Along with the development of these new drugs, cellular therapies, namely chimeric antigen receptor-engineered T (CART) cells, have revolutionized the therapeutic paradigm of patients with B-cell lymphoid malignancies and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Engagement of mature T cell receptor (TCR), a multiprotein complex consisting of an αβ heterodimer associated with invariant CD3 signaling proteins, on CD4⁺CD8⁺ double positive (DP) thymocytes by selfpeptide/ self-MHC complex on thymic stromal cells results in negative selection of thymocytes expressing strong affinity TCRs and positive selection of thymocytes expressing weak affinity TCRs.

Our recently published research article “Vγ2⁺ γδ T cells in the presence of anti-CD40L control surgical inflammation and promote skin allograft survival” revealed that the Vγ2⁺ subset of γδ T cells, which otherwise are known primarily for its proinflammatory function, regulate the survival of skin allografts in the presence of anti-CD40L.