Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells correspond to a population of thymus-generated T cells 34 with innate-like characteristics and effector functions. Among the various iNKT subsets, NKT17 35 is the only subset that produces the proinflammatory cytokine IL-17. But, how NKT17 cells 36 acquire this ability and what would selectively trigger their activation remain incompletely 37 understood. Here, we identified the cytokine receptor DR3 being specifically expressed on 38 thymic NKT17 cells and mostly absent on other thymic iNKT subsets. Moreover, DR3 ligation 39 promoted the in vivo activation of thymic NKT17 cells and provided costimulatory effects upon 40 agonistic α-GalCer stimulation. Thus, we identified a specific surface marker for thymic NKT17 41 cells that triggers their activation and augments their effector functions both in vivo and in vitro. 42 These findings provide new insights for deciphering the role and function of murine NKT17 cells 43 and for understanding the development and activation mechanisms of iNKT cells in general.
Autologous fat grafting (AFG) is a safe and minimally invasive procedure to correct soft tissue defects. The benefit of AFG is attributed to adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) in fat tissue graft. This technique is useful also in patients undergoing reconstructive surgery following quadrantectomy for breast cancer. However, these patients are frequently treated with tamoxifen. We evaluated the ex vivo effects of tamoxifen on ASCs to understand if cellular functions of ASCs are affected. We selected 24 female patients; 10 of which were breast cancer patients treated with quadrantectomy and tamoxifen. As control group, we selected 14 healthy female subjects (9 premenopausal and 5 menopausal). We found that tamoxifen has no effect on cellular proliferation, VEGF secretion or apoptosis of ASCs. The gene expression assessment demonstrated no impairment in differentiation capacity of ASCs. Our results showed that tamoxifen has no effect on cellular functions of ASCs for the first time in an ex vivo single-center study.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.