Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) promote cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis by producing various mediators. Although preclinical studies demonstrated that TAMs preferentially express CD163 and CD204, the TAM subsets in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain unknown. In this study, we examined the expression and role of TAM subsets in OSCC. Forty-six patients with OSCC were analyzed for expression of TAMs in biopsy samples by immunohistochemistry. We examined TAM subsets and their production of immune suppressive molecules (IL-10 and PD-L1) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from three OSCC patients by flow cytometry. CD163 was detected around the tumor or connective tissue, while CD204 was detected in/around the tumors. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that CD163+CD204+ TAMs strongly produced IL-10 and PD-L1 in comparison with CD163+CD204− and CD163−CD204+ TAMs. Furthermore, the number of activated CD3+ T cells after co-culture with CD163+CD204+ TAMs was significantly lower than that after co-culture with other TAM subsets. In clinical findings, the number of CD163+CD204+ TAMs was negatively correlated with that of CD25+ cells and 5-year progression-free survival. These results suggest that CD163+CD204+ TAMs possibly play a key role in the invasion and metastasis of OSCC by T-cell regulation via IL-10 and PD-L1 production.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) promote tumor progression and inhibit anti-tumor immune response by producing various mediators and preferentially express CD163, CD204, and CD206. However, the role of these TAM subsets in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remains unclear. Here we investigated the expression and function of TAM subsets in OSCC, especially in cancer cell proliferation. Biopsy sample from 44 patients with OSCC were examined for the expression of TAM markers and EGF by immunohistochemistry. EGF production of TAM subsets isolated from OSCC patients was assessed by flow cytometry. We also examined the effect of conditioned medium from TAM subsets on the proliferation of OSCC cells. CD163+ cells were detected diffusely all over the tumor and connective tissue area, while CD204+ and CD206+ cells were mainly detected in/around the tumors. Flow cytometric analysis found that CD206+ TAMs strongly produced EGF compared with CD163+ and CD204+ TAMs. Cell proliferation and invasion of OSCC cells cultured with conditioned medium of CD206+ TAMs were strongly enhanced and inhibited by anti-EGFR. The number of CD206+ TAMs positively correlated with worse clinical prognosis. Our results revealed differences in localization and EGF production among these TAM subsets. CD206+ TAMs might play a critical role in the proliferation of OSCC via EGF production.

In the first four years of the LHD experiment, several encouraging results have emerged, the most significant of which is that MHD stability and good transport are compatible in the inward shifted axis configuration. The observed energy confinement at this optimal configuration is consistent with ISS95 scaling with an enhancement factor of 1.5. The confinement enhancement over the smaller heliotron devices is attributed to the high edge temperature. We find that the plasma with an average beta of 3% is stable in this configuration, even though the theoretical stability conditions of Mercier modes and pressure driven low-n modes are violated. In the low density discharges heated by NBI and ECR, internal transport barrier (ITB) and an associated high central temperature (>10 keV) are seen. The radial electric field measured in these discharges is positive (electron root) and expected to play a key role in the formation of the ITB. The positive electric field is also found to suppress the ion thermal diffusivity as predicted by neoclassical transport theory. The width of the externally imposed island is found to decrease when the plasma is collisionless with finite beta and increase when the plasma is collisional. The ICRF heating in LHD is successful and a high energy tail (up to 500 keV) has been detected for minority ion heating, demonstrating good confinement of the high energy particles. The magnetic field line structure unique to the heliotron edge configuration is confirmed by measuring the plasma density and temperature profiles on the divertor plate. A long pulse (2 min) discharge with an ICRF power of 0.4 MW has been demonstrated and the energy confinement characteristics are almost the same as those in short pulse discharges.

The first results of the Dynamic Ergodic Divertor in TEXTOR, when operating in the m=n 3=1 mode configuration, are presented. The deeply penetrating external magnetic field perturbation of this configuration increases the toroidal plasma rotation. Staying below the excitation threshold for the m=n 2=1 tearing mode, this toroidal rotation is always in the direction of the plasma current, even if the toroidal projection of the rotating magnetic field perturbation is in the opposite direction. The observed toroidal rotation direction is consistent with a radial electric field, generated by an enhanced electron transport in the ergodic layers near the resonances of the perturbation. This is an effect different from theoretical predictions, which assume a direct coupling between rotating perturbation and plasma to be the dominant effect of momentum transfer. Helical magnetic field perturbations are introduced in tokamak plasmas to study, on the one hand, the ergodic divertor concept [1,2] and, on the other hand, the interaction of such perturbations with the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) stability of the plasma [3,4]. Recent experiments, for instance, suggest a control method to mitigate edge localized modes while maintaining the pedestal pressure and thus plasma confinement [5][6][7]. However, open questions remain, in particular, with regard to the influence on the momentum transport of the plasma. Indeed, one motivation to equip the tokamak TEXTOR with the Dynamic Ergodic Divertor (DED) [8] was to be able to study the interaction between helical magnetic field perturbations and plasma transport and stability.The DED consists of 16 magnetic perturbation coils (four quadruples), plus two additional coils for the compensation of the magnetic field imperfections at the feeder regions of the coils. The coils wind helically around the inner side of the torus (major radius: R 1:75 m; minor radius of the circular plasma cross section typically a 0:47 m) with a pitch corresponding to the magnetic field lines of the magnetic flux surface with a safety factor of q 3. Depending on the choice of coil connections to the power supplies, base modes with different poloidal and toroidal mode numbers can be produced. For the DED these are m=n 12=4, 6=2, and 3=1. The penetration depth into the plasma strongly depends on the mode numbers: While the m=n 12=4 affects the edge plasma only, the m=n 3=1 mode reaches into the plasma center (the maximum radial magnetic field component achievable by the DED at the q 2 surface is 10 ÿ3 of the total magnetic field).In this Letter we present results obtained by the m=n 3=1 mode operation. Covering about one-third of the poloidal cross section of the torus, the mode spectrum of the DED does not contain many sidebands. For the m=n 3=1 configuration the three dominant resonant components inside the plasma are m 1, 2, and 3. In Fig. 1 their strengths at the respective resonances are PRL 94, 015003 (2005) P H Y S I C A L

Recycling and wall pumping have been studied comparing low (~10 18 m-3) and high (~10 19 m-3) density long duration plasmas in TRIAM-1M. The recycling coefficient of each plasma increases with time. There exist two time constants in the temporal evolution of the recycling coefficient. One is a few seconds and the other is about 30 s. They may relate with characteristic times during which the physical adsorption and absorption due to the CX neutrals reach the equilibrium state, respectively. The wall pumping rates of low and high density plasmas are evaluated to be ~1.5×10 16 atoms m-2 s-1 and ~4×10 17 atoms m-2 s-1 , respectively. The difference is caused by the difference of the total amount of the CX neutral flux with the energy of <0.7 keV. In the ultra-long discharge (~70 min), the recycling coefficient becomes unity or more and again decreases below unity, i.e. the wall repeats a process of being saturated and refreshed. This refreshment of the wall seems to be caused by the co-deposition of Mo, which is a material of the limiter and divertor plates. In the high power and high density experiments, the wall saturation phenomenon has been observed. The discharge duration limited by the wall saturation decreases with increase in the density.

Plasma start-up and sustainment without an inductive field have been studied in the TST-2@K spherical tokamak using high power RF sources (8.2 GHz/up to 170 kW). Steady state discharges with a plasma current of 4 kA were achieved. The line integrated density was about 3 × 1017 m−2 and the electron temperature was 160 eV. A truncated equilibrium was introduced to reproduce magnetic measurements. It was found that a positive Pfirsch–Schlüter current in the open field line region at the outboard boundary makes a significant contribution to the current. Insensitivity of the current to variations in the vertical field and RF power variation was also found.

Achievement of reactor relevant plasma condition in Helical type magnetic devices and exploration in its related plasma physics and fusion engineering are the aim of the Large Helical Device (LHD) project. In the recent experiments on LHD, we have achieved iontemperature of 8.1keV at 1x10 19 m -3 by the optimization of wall conditioning using long pulse discharge by Ion Cyclotron Heating (ICH). The electron temperature of 10keV at 1.6x10 19 m -3 was also achieved by the optimization of Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH). For further improvement in plasma performance, the upgrade of the Large Helical Device (LHD), including the deuterium experiment, is planned. In this paper, the recent achievements on LHD and the upgrade of LHD are described.

This paper describes the recent progress in divertor simulation research using the GAMMA 10/PDX tandem mirror towards the development of divertors in fusion reactors. During a plasma flow generation experiment in the end cell of the GAMMA 10/PDX, ICRF heating in the anchor cell successfully extended the particle flux up to 3.3  ×  1023 m2 s−1. Superimposing the short pulse of the ECH also attained a maximum heat flux of ~30 MW m−2. We have succeeded in achieving and characterizing the detachment of the high-temperature plasma, which is equivalent to the SOL plasma of tokamaks, by using the divertor simulation experimental module (D-module) in the GAMMA 10/PDX end cell, in spite of using a linear device with a short magnetic field line connection length. Various gases (Ar, Xe, Ne and N2) are examined to evaluate the effect of radiation cooling against the plasma flow at the MW m−2 level in the divertor simulation region and the following results are obtained: (i) Xe gas was most effective in the reduction of heat and particle fluxes (1%, 3%, respectively) and has a stronger effect on electron cooling (down to ~1.6 eV) in the used gas species. (ii) Ne gas was less effective. On the other hand, (iii) N2 gas showed more favorable effects than Ar in the lower pressure range. These results will contribute to the progress in detached plasma operation and in clarifying the radiation cooling mechanism towards the development of future divertors.