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Virology 2021 Apr 9;559:100-110. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Tulane National Primate Research Center, Tulane University, Covington, LA, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA. Electronic address:

While T cell immunity is an important component of the immune response to Zika virus (ZIKV) infection generally, the efficacy of these responses during pregnancy remains unknown. Here, we tested the capacity of CD8 lymphocytes to protect from secondary challenge in four macaques, two of which were depleted of CD8 cells prior to rechallenge with a heterologous ZIKV isolate. The initial challenge during pregnancy produced transcriptional signatures suggesting complex patterns of immune modulation as well as neutralizing antibodies that persisted until rechallenge, which all animals efficiently controlled, demonstrating that the primary infection conferred adequate protection. Read More

Int J Infect Dis 2021 Apr 14. Epub 2021 Apr 14.

Translational Research Unit, National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani-IRCCS, Rome, Italy. Electronic address:

Objectives: To identify the best experimental approach to detect a SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response using a whole-blood platform.

Methods: Whole-blood from 56 COVID-19 and 23 "NO-COVID-19" individuals were overnight stimulated with different concentrations (0.1 or 1 µg/mL) of SARS-CoV-2 PepTivator® Peptide Pools, including spike (pool S), nucleocapsid (pool N), membrane (pool M), and a MegaPool (MP) of these three peptide pools. Read More

Cell Oncol (Dordr) 2021 Apr 17. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

Institute of Pathology, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, D-20246, Hamburg, Germany.

Purpose: Expansion of CD8 cytotoxic Tlymphocytes is a prerequisite for anti-cancer immune activity and has gained interest in the era of immune checkpoint therapy.

Methods: To understand the CD8 T cell dynamics in the tumor microenvironment, we used multiplex fluorescence immunohistochemistry to quantitate CD8 proliferation (Ki67 co-expression) in tissue microarrays from 1107 colorectal, 642 renal cell, 1066 breast, 375 ovarian, 451 pancreatic and 347 gastric cancer samples.

Results: The density and the percentage of proliferating (Ki67) CD8 T cells were both highly variable between tumor types as well as between patients with the same tumor type. Read More

Cancer Immunol Immunother 2021 Apr 17. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of California, 513 Parnassus Avenue, HSW1201, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.

Background: Soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) are a rare group of mesenchymal malignancies that account for approximately 1% of adult human cancer. Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) is one of the most common subtypes of adult STS. Clinical stratification of UPS patients has not evolved for decades and continues to rely on tumor-centric metrics including tumor size and depth. Read More

J Infect Dis 2021 Apr 17. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

Indiana University School of Medicine, Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health, Indianapolis, IN, USA.

Background: PD-1 marks exhausted T cells, with weak effector functions. Adults living with HIV have increased levels of PD-1+ CD8 T cells that correlate with HIV disease progression, yet little is known about the role of PD-1+ CD8 T cells in children with perinatal HIV.

Methods: We enrolled 76 Kenyan children with perinatal HIV and 43 children who were HIV unexposed and quantified PD-1 levels on CD8 T cells, their coexpression with immune checkpoints (IC) 2B4, CD160 and TIM3, correlates with immune activation and HIV disease progression and HIV-specific and non-specific proliferative responses. Read More