Recent studies of T-cell clonal repertoires of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) have led to the discovery of AS-associated T-cell clones with a highly homologous T-cell receptor structure. The role of T-lymphocytes in the disease progression cannot be elucidated without analyzing the diversity and abundance of functionally different T-cell clones found in patients with AS. Using a state-of-the-art technique for T-cell repertoire profiling based on massively parallel sequencing, we, for the first time, studied the T-cell receptor repertoire of activated T-cells from the peripheral blood of a patient with AS. We have demonstrated that a subpopulation of CD38+HLA-DR+ T-lymphocytes is highly diverse both in terms of clonal diversity and abundance of the identified clonotypes, suggesting diverse antigen specificity of the activated peripheral blood T-cells. Most of the activated T-cell clonotypes had low abundance in total population of peripheral blood T-cells. In the repertoire of activated T-cells we have found the clonotype TRBV9_CASSVGVYSTDTQYF_TRBJ2-3, previously discovered in AS and reactive arthritis, and a few other clonotypes of cytotoxic and helper T-cells that may have a role in promoting inflammation in AS patients. Presence of the AS-associated clonotype in activated T-cell subset suggests that the T-cells might play an active role in ongoing inflammation during the disease progression. This provides rationale for further research of their antigen specificity and role in triggering or maintaining AS.
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In this work we explore the temporal dynamics of cytokines in Dark Agouti rats with experimentally induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The main group consisted of 11 animals who were injected with 100 μl (per leg) of spinal cord homogenate obtained from random-bred rats and combined with incomplete Freund’s adjuvant to the hind footpads. The control group included 7 animals who received 100 μl of normal saline mixed with incomplete Freund’s adjuvant. Blood samples (500 μl) were collected daily, starting from day 1 through day 7. We ran a Bio-Plex-based multiplex cytokine assay on the samples using the Bio-Plex Pro Rat Cytokine 24-plex Assay kit. EAE in rats was shown to simulate progression of multiple sclerosis in humans in terms of temporal dynamics of lymphoproliferative and hematopoietic factors IL-1b, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, and IL-7. The studied model satisfactory imitates the dynamics of factors stimulating migration of lymphocytes, monocytes and other immune cells, including IL-17, RANTES (CCL-5) and MCP-1 (CCL-2) but excluding GRO/KC (CXCL1), which shows a different dynamics. The model also resembles patterns of human multiple sclerosis in terms of factors affecting cytotoxic and apoptotic reactions, including IFNγ, IL-6 and IL-17, but excluding TNFα.
VIEWS 3883
Relative biological effectiveness of ionizing radiation is determined by a number of factors, including a dose rate. Radiotherapy equipment employs low dose rates of up to a few Gy per minute. But very little is known about the biological effect of high and ultrahigh (≥ 10<sup>8</sup> Gy/min) dose rate radiation. Our study aimed to investigate the apoptotic effect of ultrahigh gamma dose rates on human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Blood samples were collected from seemingly healthy donors. Lymphocytes were isolated by density gradient separation. Lymphocyte suspensions were irradiated with low-rate doses on the Rokus- AM gamma-ray machine for clinical use (Russia) and with 10<sup>8</sup> Gy/s doses on the experimental pulse generators Angara-5-1 and Mir-M (Russia). Apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry using annexin V and propidium iodide double staining. We established that in comparison with low dose rates, ultrahigh gamma dose rates (with doses ranging from 1 to 6 Gy) induced significantly more pronounced apoptosis in peripheral blood lymphocytes (p < 0.05) with fewer necrotic cells. Total radiation-induced cell death did not differ significantly between the therapeutic gamma machine and the experimental pulse generators. Further research is needed to assess biological and medical significance of our findings.
VIEWS 3768
In spite of accreditation programs, levels of professional skills vary among plastic surgeons: there are no requirements for the diversity and number of performed surgical interventions that a surgeon can specify in his/her portfolio. Rationale for elaborating such requirements can be explored by studying service reports of private medical practices certified to provide plastic surgery services to their in- and outpatients. In the course of out study we analyzed such reports using different statistical tools, including the variation coefficient, the Kolmogorov–Smironov, Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests, and Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05. Surgical interventions were divided into 9 categories: skin/soft tissue plasty, rhinoplasty, breast plasty, blepharoplasty, otoplasty, lip and palate repair, craniofacial plasty, repair of urogenital defects, and hand surgery. On average, each surgeon performed a total of 112.3 ± 326.4 surgeries (Мо = 1). About 30.4 % of surgeons performed 1 to 10 interventions a year. None of the surgeons performed all types of interventions and hand surgery. We found that the diversity and number of interventions performed by a surgeon does not depend on the qualification or academic title (r<sub>S</sub> = –0.8, р = 0.2 and r<sub>S</sub> = –0.2, р = 0.8, respectively). Skin/soft tissue repair accounted for 51.1 % of all services provided by private medical practices. The number of post-operative treatment services was 0.017 per surgery.
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