T cells recognize antigen fragments from proteolytic products that are presented to them in the form of peptides on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, which is crucial for the T cell to identify infected or transformed cells. Autophagy, a process that delivers cytoplasmic constituents for lysosomal degradation, has been observed to provide a substantial source of intra- and extracellular antigens for MHC presentation to T cells, which will impact the tumor-specific immune response. Meanwhile, extracellular components are transported to cytoplasm for the degradation/secretion process by the endo-/exosomal pathway and are thus involved in multiple physiological and pathological processes, including immune responses. Autophagy and endo-/exosomal pathways are intertwined in a highly intricate manner and both are closely involved in antigen processing for MHC presentation; thus, we propose that they may coordinate in antigen processing and presentation in anticancer T cell immune responses. In this article, we discuss the molecular and functional crosstalk between autophagy and endo-/exosomal pathways and their contributions to antigen processing for MHC presentation in anticancer T cell immune responses.

H19 refers to a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that functions as an oncogenic molecule in different cancer cells. Genetic variants of H19 may affect the activity of certain regulatory factors, which subsequently regulate the aberrant expression of H19. This feedback loop might be one of the underlying mechanisms influencing tumour susceptibility and prognosis. Although there have been several recent studies that examined possible links between polymorphisms in H19 and cancer risk, the results have been inconclusive. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to estimate the associations between H19 polymorphisms (rs2107425, rs2839698 and rs217727) and cancer risk. Ten studies comprising 13,392 cases and 18,893 controls were included in the study. Overall, the variant T allele of rs2107425 correlated with a significantly decreased risk of developing cancer (dominant model: OR = 0.86; 95% CI = 0.76–0.98). In addition, a marginally significant association between the rs2839698 and cancer risk was observed (dominant model: OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.99–1.20). After stratification for ethnicity, it became apparent that Asians with the variant A allele of rs2839698 exhibited a significantly higher risk of developing cancer (dominant model: OR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.01–1.23). Interestingly, the rs2839698 variant was also significant associated with an increased risk of cancers of the digestive system (dominant model: OR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.08–1.41). These findings provided evidence that H19 rs2107425 may modify general cancer susceptibility, while rs2839698 may modify cancer susceptibility based on ethnicity and type. Further experimental studies to evaluate the limits of this hypothesis are warranted, and future functional studies are required to clarify the possible mechanisms.

Th17 and regulatory T cells, involved in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases, are new lineages of CD4+ T helper cells. However, the role of their imbalance in human leukocyte antigen B27-associated acute anterior uveitis has not been elucidated. In our study, the percentages of Th17 and Treg cells, their molecular markers and related factors in peripheral blood of patients and healthy controls were measured by flow cytometry, real-time RT-PCR and ELISA. We observed a remarkable increase of CD4+ and CD4+IL-17+ T cells in peripheral blood of patients compared to controls. The molecular markers and related factors of Th17 cell were also showed a distinct elevation. Interestingly, we observed an obvious decrease of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells and Foxp3 mRNA level in patients. The ratio of Th17/Treg in patients was dramatically higher than controls. Moreover, the ratio of Th17/Treg cells had a more significantly positive correlation with the disease activity score than Th17 cells whereas Treg cells had a negative correlation. Our findings demonstrated a distinct increase of Th17 cells and a significant decrease of Treg cells in patients compared to controls. The imbalance of Th17 and Treg cells may play a vital role in the pathogenesis of the disease.

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Abstract:Mutations of fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) and nucleophosmin (NPM1) exon 12 genes are the most common abnormalities in adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with normal cytogenetics. To assess the prognostic impact of the two gene mutations in Chinese AML patients, we used multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and capillary electrophoresis to screen 76 AML patients with normal cytogenetics for mutations in FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3/ITD) and exon 12 of the NPM1 gene. FLT3/ITD mutation was detected in 15 (19.7%) of 76 subjects, and NPM1 mutation in 20 (26.3%) subjects. Seven (9.2%) cases were positive for both FLT3/ITD and NPM1 mutations. Significantly more FLT3/ITD aberration was detected in subjects with French-American-British (FAB) M1 (42.8%). NPM1 mutation was frequently detected in subjects with M5 (47.1%) and infrequently in subjects with M2 (11.1%). FLT3 and NPM1 mutations were significantly associated with a higher white blood cell count in peripheral blood and a lower CD34 antigen expression, but not age, sex, or platelet count. Statistical analysis revealed that the FLT3/ITDpositive group had a lower complete remission (CR) rate (53.3% vs. 83.6%). Survival analysis showed that the FLT3/ITD-positive/NPM1 mutation-negative group had worse overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS). The FLT3/ITD-positive/NPM1 mutation-positive group showed a trend towards favorable survival compared with the FLT3/ITD-positive/NPM1 mutation-negative group (P=0.069). Our results indicate that the FLT3/ITD mutation might be a prognostic factor for an unfavorable outcome in Chinese AML subjects with normal cytogenetics, while NPM1 mutation may be a favorable prognostic factor for OS and RFS in the presence of FLT3/ITD.

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