The immune response is how the body reacts to pathogens that invade the body, such as bacteria, fungus, and viruses. Once pathogens are recognized by the immune system, they are targeted for destruction by two primary effector mechanisms: phagocytosis or direct killing of the pathogen. Inflammation, which is characterized by redness, heat, swelling, and pain, is often a symptom of a local immune response. Sometimes the body's cells are incorrectly recognized as pathogens by the immune system, leading to auto-immune diseases.
RayBiotech also has a large catalog of ELISA kits, other antibody arrays, and flow cytometry reagents for immune response research. Full testing services are available for all RayBiotech products, including flow cytometry.
Need help identifying the right product or service for your study? Contact us at [email protected].
A systemic hyperactivated immune system caused by infections or immunotherapies can result in a life-threatening condition called cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Staedtke et al. show that the atrial natriuretic peptide, which is released by cardiac cells with anti-inflammatory properties, protected mice from CRS following bacterial infection. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, catecholamines and tissue injury also decreased. Blocking catecholamines with metyrosine also had protective effects against CRS. These data highlight the role of catecholamines in CRS.
Staedtke V, et al. Disruption of a self-amplifying catecholamine loop reduces cytokine release syndrome. Nature. (2018). [view publication]
RayBiotech Products: Competitive ELISA (cat no. EIA-ANP)
Sample Type: Plasma, Conditioned medium
The exact causes for most miscarriages remain unknown. However, aberrant autophagy and differentiation of endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) into specialized decidual stomal cells (DSCs) called "decidualization" are known to occur in early pregnancy loss. Since decidualization is accompanied with leukocyte infiltration, this study investigated the roles and molecular mechanisms of autophagy and NK cells during decidualization. Their data show that increased autophagy of DSCs during decidualization facilitates the adhesion and retention of decidual NK (dNK) cells during normal pregnancy through activation of the MITF-TNFRSF14/HVEM signaling pathway. Low dNK cells was associated with unexplained miscarriages in humans, and mice with depleted NK cells had a low pregnancy success rate. This study reveals novel molecular mechanisms for the development of drugs to prevent miscarriages.
Lu H, et al. Rapamycin prevents spontaneous abortion by triggering decidual stromal cell autophagy-mediated NK cell residence, Autophagy (2020). [view publication]
RayBiotech Products: L-Series (cat no. AAH-BLG-1000)
Sample Type: Conditioned medium
Catechins exert strong anti-allergic effects. However, it is unknown whether catechin-metabolizing bacteria, such as Flavonifractor plautii (FP), have anti-allergic effects as well. Here, Ogita et al. explored the effect of FP on the Th2 cell immune response, which has been implicated in allergic reactions. FP induced Foxp3+CD4+ T cell differentiation in vitro. In vivo, ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized mice treated with FP had 1) suppressed OVA-specific IgE production in serum, 2) increased Il10 expression and CD4+CD25+ cells in the spleen, and 3) decreased expression of GATA3, a transcription factor for Th2 cells, in the mesenteric lymph nodes. These data suggest that FP may alleviate antigen-induced Th2 immune responses.
Ogita, T., Yamamoto, Y., Mikami, A., et al. Oral Administration of Flavonifractor plautii Strongly Suppresses Th2 Immune Responses in Mice. Front Immunol. 2020; 11: 379. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.00379 [view publication]
RayBiotech Products: IQELISA (cat no. IQM-IL10)
Sample Type: Conditioned medium
Myocardial infarction (MI) leads to the release of damage-associated proteins that stimulate innate immune pathways and macrophage tissue infiltration, which drives inflammation and myocardial remodeling. In this study, Biemmi et al. studied the paracrine effect of inflammatory extracellular vesicles (EVs) on cardiac outcome. During the acute phase of MI, the number of circulating EV enriched in pro-inflammatory markers (IL-1α, IL-1β, RANTES) and cardiac ischemic damage increased in rats. The addition of post-MI EVs, but not pre-MI EVs, resulted in cell death of primary neonatal rat myocytes. Rats pre-treated with a chemical to block EV biogenesis had reduced cardiac damage following MI compared to untreated rats.
Biemmi V, et al. Inflammatory extracellular vesicles prompt heart dysfunction via TRL4-dependent NF-κB activation. Theranostics. (2020). [view publication]
RayBiotech Products: Protein (cat no. 230-30052, 268-10176)
Sample Type: Tissue lysate
The sensitization of sensory nerve fibers in the intestine known as "visceral hypersensitivity" underpins abdominal pain, which is the dominant symptom of bowel disorders. However, the exact neuro-immune mechanisms that cause abdominal pain are unclear. Here, Grubišić et al. hypothesized that enteric glia, a unique type of peripheral neuroglia that communicate with each other via Cx43 and modulate neuron activity in the intestine, may contribute to visceral hypersensitivity during inflammation. They show that 1) mice with deleted Cx43 had reduced chronic intestinal inflammation and 2) mouse and human enteric glia, via Cx43, produce M-CSF in response to pro-inflammatory stimuli. Their data highlight a potential therapeutic target to address visceral pain.
Grubišić V, et al. Enteric Glia Modulate Macrophage Phenotype and Visceral Sensitivity following Inflammation. Cell Rep. (2020). [view publication]
RayBiotech Products: Sandwich ELISA (cat no. ELH-MCSF)
Sample Type: Conditioned medium
Here, Yang et al. propose a novel strategy to prepare dendritic cell-based cancer (DC) vaccines to improve their efficacy. They expressed a fusion protein (SNU) in E. coli containing a SecPen domain (to penetrate cell membranes), cancer/testis antigen 1 (NY-ESO-1; a protein with high antigenicity to elicit the immune response), and ubiquitin (enhance presentation of NY-ESO-1 by dendritic cells by directing the antigen to the proteasome system for degradation). The DC-SNU vaccine could elicit higher mRNA and protein levels of IFNγ, TNFα, and IL-12 in sensitized peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) than DCs alone. Using a lactate dehydrogenase assay that measured cytotoxic activity in vitro, more mouse colon carcinoma MC38 cells expressing NY-ESO-1 died (p < 0.001) than MC38 cells when incubated with PBMCs activated with DC-SNU. The SNU-DC vaccine strategy shows potential for higher therapeutic efficacy for treating cancer.
Yang Y, et al. (2020). Generated SecPen_NY-ESO-1_ubiquitin-pulsed dendritic cell cancer vaccine elicits stronger and specific T cell immune responses. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (2021). [view publication]
RayBiotech Products: Protein (cat no. 230-00634)
Sample Type: Cells