Approximately 2 billion people are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), resulting in 1.4 million deaths every year. Among Mtb-infected individuals, clinical isolates belonging to the W-Beijing lineage are increasingly prevalent, associated with drug resistance, and cause severe disease immunopathology in animal models. Therefore, it is exceedingly important to identify the immune mechanisms that mediate protection against rapidly emerging Mtb strains, such as W-Beijing lineage. IL-22 is a member of the IL-10 family of cytokines with both protective and pathological functions at mucosal surfaces. Thus far, collective data show that IL-22 deficient mice are not more susceptible to aerosolized infection with less virulent Mtb strains. Thus, in this study we addressed the functional role for the IL-22 pathway in immunity to emerging Mtb isolates, using W-Beijing lineage member, Mtb HN878 as a prototype. We show that Mtb HN878 stimulates IL-22 production in TLR2 dependent manner and IL-22 mediates protective immunity during chronic stages of Mtb HN878 infection in mice. Interestingly, IL-22-dependent pathways in both epithelial cells and macrophages mediate protective mechanisms for Mtb HN878 control. Thus, our results project a new protective role for IL-22 in emerging Mtb infections.

Stimulation of double-stranded (ds)RNA receptors can increase the effectiveness of cancer vaccines, but the underlying mechanisms are not completely elucidated. In this study, we sought to determine critical roles of host IFN-α and IFN-γ pathways in the enhanced therapeutic efficacy mediated by peptide-vaccines and polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly[I:C]) stabilized by lysine and carboxymethylcellulose (poly-ICLC) in the murine central nervous system (CNS) GL261 glioma. C57BL/6-background wild type (WT), IFN-α receptor-1 (IFN-αR1)−/− or IFN-γ−/− mice bearing syngeneic CNS GL261 glioma received subcutaneous (s.c.) vaccinations with synthetic peptides encoding CTL epitopes with or without intramuscular (i.m.) injections of poly-ICLC. The combinational treatment induced a robust transcription of CXCL10 in the glioma site. Blockade of CXCL10 with a specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) abrogated the efficient CNS homing of antigen-specific type-1 CTL (Tc1). Both IFN-αR1−/− and IFN-γ−/− hosts failed to up-regulate the CXCL10 mRNA and recruit Tc1 cells to the tumor site, indicating non-redundant roles of type-1 and type-2 IFNs in the effects of poly-ICLC-assisted vaccines. The efficient trafficking of Tc1 also required Tc1-derived IFN-γ. Our data point to critical roles of the host-IFN-α and IFN-γ pathways in the modulation of CNS glioma microenvironment, and the therapeutic effectiveness of poly-ICLC-assisted glioma vaccines.

Background The prognosis of MBM is variable with prolonged survival in a subset. It is unclear whether MBMs differ from extracranial metastases (EcM) and primary melanomas (PrM). Methods To study the biology of MBM we performed histopathologic analysis of tumor blocks from patients' craniotomy samples and whole genome expression profiling (WGEP) with confirmatory immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results Mononuclear infiltrate and low intratumoral hemorrhage were associated with prolonged overall survival (OS). Pathway analysis of WGEP data from 29 such craniotomy tumor blocks demonstrated that several immune-related BioCarta gene sets were associated with prolonged OS. WGEP analysis of MBM in comparison with same-patient EcM and PrM showed that MBM and EcM were similar—but both differ significantly from PrM. IHC analysis revealed that peritumoral CD3+ and CD8+ cells were associated with prolonged OS. Conclusions MBMs are more similar to EcM compared to PrM. Immune infiltrate is a favorable prognostic factor for MBM.

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