Expression of a single chemokine receptor gene, CCR7, increased B16 cell metastasis to draining lymph nodes, suggesting that cancer cells may co-opt normal mechanisms of lymph node homing during metastasis.

Individuals in this cohort had clinical and genetic characteristics of classic OPMD. Longevity was not affected, but patients experienced considerable morbidity. The origin of the PABP2 mutation in New Mexican OPMD patients is unclear, although the geographic and genetic isolation of northern New Mexicans with a long ancestry in this region may have contributed to the development of this cohort. This disease cohort represents a large and previously unrecognized health care issue in the state of New Mexico and should serve to raise the awareness of this disorder among clinicians who treat Hispanics in the Southwest and throughout the United States.

No abstract

Nanowire field effect transistors (nano-FET) were lithographically fabricated using 50 nm doped polysilicon nanowires attached to two small gold terminals separated from each other by a approximately 150 nm gap to serve as the basis for electronic detection of bacteria toxins. The device characterizations, semiconducting properties and use in a robust and sensitive bio-molecular detection sensor of bacterial toxins were reported in this work. The device characteristics were demonstrated with varying gate and drain voltages. The bio-molecular detection was demonstrated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), using Staphylococcus aureus Enterotoxin B (SEB) as the target molecule. The detection limit of SEB was observed in the range of 10-35 fM.

CCR6 is expressed by memory T cells (mTC) and is a requirement for efficient arrest of a subset of mTC to activated human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMEC) under physiologic shear stress. We now address whether CCR6 alone is sufficient to induce arrest of a model T cell line (Jurkat) that shows low expression of all CCRs tested (CCR1–10). Herein, we transduced Jurkat (JK) T cells expressing fucosyltransferase VII with a chimeric chemokine receptor consisting of CCR6 fused to enhanced green fluorescent protein. In contrast to the starting JK lines, the resulting cell line (JK fucosyltransferase VII-CCR6) migrated 6-fold better to CCL20 in chemotaxis assays, arrested in response to CCL20 that was immobilized to plastic, and demonstrated a 2.5-fold increase in adhesion to activated HDMEC (p = 0.001). Adhesion was blocked by anti-CD18 mAb (p = 0.005) but not by anti-CD49d mAb (p = 0.3). After arrest on recombinant substrates, CCR6 clustered on the surface as detected by real-time observation of enhanced green fluorescent protein fluorescence. Dual-label confocal microscopy revealed that LFA-1 (CD18 and CD11a), but not CXCR4, colocalized with clustered CCR6 in the presence of immobilized CCL20. Thus, the functional expression of CCR6 is sufficient to provide the chemokine signaling necessary to induce arrest of a JK T cell line to activated HDMEC. Clustering of CCR6 and coassociation with critical integrins may serve to strengthen adhesion between T cells and activated endothelial cells.