Function, regulation, and manipulation of the immune system and inflammatory responses
Lyme disease is caused by bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi, Borrelia afzelii, and Borrelia garinii) that are delivered by a bite from an infected tick (Figure 1). The Centers for Disease Control (1) recommend a preventative (prophylactic) single dose of the antibiotic doxycycline for adults bitten by a mosquito with a high probability of carrying the Lyme-causing … Read more
Although genomic (DNA) and transcriptomic (messenger RNA) data are easier to collect and analyze, these are only two of the relevant types of “omic” data that are important for understanding disease and the response to treatments. Proteomic, metabolomic, and lipidomic data are also contain information that can be used diagnostically, prognostically, in developing treatment … Read more
A Proteomic Approach to the Tumor Microenvironment An outstanding issue in treating solid cancers is understanding the complexity of this pathological tissue. Solid tumors are comprised not only of the cancer cells, but they also contain immune cells, cells that form blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, fibroblasts, and the stem cells that form the fibroblasts … Read more
How will we benefit from being able to accurately predict the peptide antigens that the immune system can recognize? Vaccine development would be a major beneficiary of such knowledge (Figure 1). We could produce more effective and safer vaccines. We could develop vaccines for pathogens for which no vaccine is currently available. We could ensure … Read more
Target tissue type, as well as a patient’s gender, nutritional, and reproductive status, must be considered to manipulate signaling through the RANKL/RANK pathway for therapeutic benefit. In some contexts, activating this pathway can be beneficial and in others inhibiting this pathway is beneficial. RANKL is the ligand, RANK [receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB)] … Read more