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Recent Advances of Nanotechnologies for Cancer Immunotherapy Treatment
Published in Loutfy H. Madkour, Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery in Cancer Treatment, 2022
Besides these, many other immune checkpoint molecules are being investigated, including LAG3 (lymphocyte activation gene 3), TIM-3 (T-cell immunoglobulin domain and Mucin domain 3), KIR (killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptor), B7-H3 (CD276), VISTA (V-domain Ig suppressor of T-cell activation), and so on. Recently, TIGIT (T-cell Ig and ITIM domain) was exploited that it can function as an immune checkpoint that mainly expressed on NK cell and T cells. When it binds to its ligand CD155 on APCs or target cells, the immune responses initiated by NK cells were significantly suppressed. The research demonstrated that blockade of TIGIT could restore the activity of tumor-infiltrating NK cells and enhance antitumor therapeutic effects. Furthermore, it can be incorporated with other ICB, such as PD-1 or PD-L1 to provide promising antitumor immunotherapy in future [231].
Head Transplantation: The Immune System, Phantom Sensations, and the Integrated Mind
Published in The New Bioethics, 2018
In the vocabulary of immunology, the expressions ‘self’ and ‘non-self’ may be thrown about with such abandon that these expressions are easily used to conflate issues in the broader language of personhood. It is important, therefore, to remember that when these expressions are used in immunology they are concerned with molecular recognition. The immune system consists of a network of molecular and cellular systems that undertake the critical function of differentiating that which is described in immunological terms as ‘self’ from that which is ‘non-self’ and imposes a level of identity on cells and tissues that must be considered in any transplant operation. These systems are typically grouped under the general headings ‘innate immunity’ and ‘adaptive immunity’ and involve more than 1600 genes (Abbas et al. 2005). Underpinning the adaptive responses are protein complexes brought together under the general heading the ‘major histocompatibility complex’ (MHC), also referred to as ‘human leukocyte antigens’ (HLA) when specific human MHC proteins are being referenced. MHC antigens are grouped into a number of classes, which, in broad terms, might be said to share function, insofar as they may, for example, process proteins into small chunks that are then presented to the T-cell receptor (TcR) on T-cells (La Gruta et al. 2018). They do, however, differ structurally from each other and serve different specific tasks. One of these, MHC class I (MHC-I, of which HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C are members), is normally present on all nucleated cells, and subclasses of this are expressed within the first three days of the life of a human embryo (Wang et al. 2009). The absence MHC-I expression on cells leaves them vulnerable to destruction through the action of the MHC-I-sensing ‘killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor’ (KIR), present on subpopulations of immune cells known as Natural Killer (NK) cells and subsets of T-cells. An important exception to this is the red blood cell population. Red cells do not express MHC-I, instead escaping destruction by NK cells through the expression of another protein, CD47 (Wang et al. 2010). Alongside the MHC-I, the expression of MHC class II (MHC-II, comprising HLA-DP HLA-DQ and HLA-DR in humans) and minor histocompatibility antigens (MiHA) like the male-specific H-Y antigen. The result of this is that, by the 8-cell stage of the embryo, the embryo is immunologically reactive with respect to the mother and its continued development requires the induction of immunological tolerance within the womb to prevent fetal rejection and miscarriage (Fernandez et al. 1999; Larsen et al. 2013; Colucci 2017).