Preclinical mouse models suggest that the gut microbiome modulates tumor response to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy; however, this has not been well-characterized in human cancer patients. Here we examined the oral and gut microbiome of melanoma patients undergoing anti–programmed cell death 1 protein (PD-1) immunotherapy (n = 112). Significant differences were observed in the diversity and composition of the patient gut microbiome of responders versus nonresponders. Analysis of patient fecal microbiome samples (n = 43, 30 responders, 13 nonresponders) showed significantly higher alpha diversity (P < 0.01) and relative abundance of bacteria of the Ruminococcaceae family (P < 0.01) in responding patients. Metagenomic studies revealed functional differences in gut bacteria in responders, including enrichment of anabolic pathways. Immune profiling suggested enhanced systemic and antitumor immunity in responding patients with a favorable gut microbiome as well as in germ-free mice receiving fecal transplants from responding patients. Together, these data have important implications for the treatment of melanoma patients with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

FGL2 augments glioma immunosuppression by increasing the expression levels of PD-1 and CD39, expanding the frequency of tumor-supportive M2 macrophages via the FcγRIIB pathway, and enhancing the number of MDSCs and CD39(+) regulatory T cells. Collectively, these results show that FGL2 functions as a key immune-suppressive modulator and has potential as an immunotherapeutic target for treating GBM.

Fibrinogen-like protein 2 (Fgl2), a member of the fibrinogen family, can be expressed as a membrane-associated protein with coagulation activity or in a secreted form possessing unique immune suppressive functions. The biological importance of Fgl2 is evident within viral-induced fibrin depositing inflammatory diseases and malignancies and provides a compelling rationale for Fgl2 expression to not only be considered as a disease biomarker but also as a therapeutic target. This article will provide a comprehensive review of the currently known biological properties of Fgl2 and clarifies future scientific directives.

This paper presents a new meteorological photo classification system based on the Multichannel Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and improved Frame Difference Method (FDM). This system can work in an embedded system with limited computational resources and categorize cloud observation photos captured by ground cameras. We propose the improved FDM extractor to detect and extract cloudlike objects from large photos into small images. Then, these small images are sent to a Multi-channel CNN image classifier. We construct the classifier and train it on the photo-set that we established. After combining the extractor and classifier to form the classification system, the images can be classified into three different types of clouds, namely, cumulus, cirrus and stratus, based on their meteorological features. The testing phase uses 200 actual photos of real scenes as the experimental data. The results show that the classification accuracy can reach 94%, which indicates that the system has a competitive classification ability. Moreover, the time cost and computational resource consumption for image recognition are greatly reduced. By using this system, meteorologists can lighten their workload of processing meteorological data.

BackgroundExpression of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is an important process by which tumor cells suppress antitumor immunity in the tumor microenvironment. Bone marrow (BM)–derived immune cells are an important component of the tumor microenvironment. However, the link between PD-L1 induction on tumor cells and communication with BM cells is unknown.ResultsThis study demonstrates that BM cells have a direct effect in inducing PD-L1 expression on tumor cells, which contributes to the tumor cells’ drug resistance. This novel discovery was revealed using a co-incubation system with BM cells and tumor cells. BM cells from wild-type C57BL6 mice and the immune-deficient mouse strains B-cell−/−, CD28−/−, perforin−/−, and Rag2−/− but not CD11b−/− dramatically increased the expression of tumor cell surface PD-L1. This PD-L1 induction was dependent on CD11b-positive BM cells through direct contact with tumor cells. Furthermore, p38 signaling was activated in tumor cells after co-incubation with BM cells, whereas the expression of PD-L1 was remarkably decreased after co-culture of cells treated with a p38 inhibitor. The increase in PD-L1 induced by BM cell co-culture protected tumor cells from drug-induced apoptosis.ConclusionsPD-L1 expression is increased on tumor cells by direct contact with BM-derived CD11b-positive cells through the p38 signaling pathway. PD-L1 may play an important role in drug resistance, which often causes failure of the antitumor response.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12964-015-0093-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Background & Aims Sepsis is an acute systemic inflammatory response to infection associated with high patient mortality (28-40%). We hypothesized that interleukin (IL)-30, a novel cytokine protecting mice against liver injury resulted from inflammation, would generate a protective effect against systemic inflammation and sepsis-induced death. Methods Sepsis was induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). The inhibitory effects of IL-30 on septic inflammation and associated therapeutic effects were determined in wild-type, IL-30 (p28)−/−, IL10−/−, and CD1d−/− mice. Results Mice treated with pIL30 gene therapy or recombinant IL-30 protein (rIL30) were protected from LPS-induced septic shock or CLP-induced polymicrobial sepsis and showed markedly less liver damage and lymphocyte apoptosis than control septic mice. The resulting reduction in mortality was mediated through attenuation of the systemic pro-inflammatory response and augmentation of bacterial clearance. Mice lacking IL-30 were more sensitive to LPS-induced sepsis. Natural killer–like T cells (NKT) produced much higher levels of IL-10 and lower levels of interferon–gamma and tumor necrosis factor–alpha in IL-30–treated septic mice than in control septic mice. Likewise, deficiency in IL-10 or NKT cells abolished the protective role of IL-30 against sepsis. Furthermore, IL-30 induced IL-10 production in purified and LPS-stimulated NKT cells. Blocking IL-6R or gp130 inhibited IL-30 mediated IL-10 production. Conclusions IL-30 is important in modulating production of NKT cytokines and subsequent NKT cell–mediated immune regulation of other cells. Therefore, IL-30 has a role in prevention and treatment of sepsis via modulation of cytokine production by NKT.

Infused autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) and tumor-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells typically surround malignant lesions or penetrate small tumor nodules but fail to penetrate large solid tumors, significantly compromising their antitumor impact. Strategies to overcome this primary challenge are largely required. We tested the effects of plus doxorubicin on T-cell penetration and efficacy in solid tumors in a murine lung cancer model, a murine breast carcinoma lung metastasis model, and two human xenograft tumor models bearing large tumors (>10 mm). Intriguingly, this simple approach increased the numbers, the distribution, and the depth of penetration of infused CD8 T cells in these tumors, including both TILs and CAR T cells. This combined treatment halted tumor progression and significantly extended survival time. Studies of the underlying mechanism revealed multiple effects. First, the combined treatment maintained the high ratios of immune-stimulatory receptors to immune-inhibitory receptors on infiltrated CD8 T cells, reduced the accumulation of immunosuppressive regulatory T cells, and enhanced the numbers of T-bet effector T cells in the tumors. Second, doxorubicin induced chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10, which may attract NKG2DCD8 T cells to tumors, and this effect was boosted by IL12-induced IFNγ accumulation in tumors, promoting the penetration of NKG2DCD8 T cells. The deep penetration of infused T cells associated with combined plus doxorubicin yielded striking therapeutic effects in murine and human xenograft solid tumors. This approach might broaden the application of T-cell therapy to a wider range of solid tumors..