TY  - JOUR
AB  - Potent professional antigen-presenting cells (APC) are essential tools to activate and expand antigen-specific T cells in vitro for use in adoptive immunotherapy. CD40-activated B cells can be easily generated and propagated from human donors and have been successfully used to generate antigen-specific T-cell cultures. Here we show that CD40-activated B cells strongly and specifically expand rare populations of antigen-specific CD8 T cells, with frequencies of less than 1 in 20,000 CD8 T cells in peripheral blood. We focused on T cells recognizing an epitope from the human papillomavirus 16 (HPV-16) E7 protein. In 6 of 6 healthy donors, epitope-specific CD8+ T cells were found to be "rare" by this criterion, as shown by staining with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)/peptide multimers. Using peptide-loaded CD40-activated B cells, epitope-specific T cells could be selectively expanded in all donors up to 10(6) fold, and the resulting T-cell cultures contained up to 88% specific T cells. These results strongly encourage the use of CD40-stimulated B cells as APCs in immunotherapy.
AU  - Zentz, C.
AU  - Wiesner, M.
AU  - Man, S.*
AU  - Frankenberger, B.
AU  - Wollenberg, B.*
AU  - Hillemanns, P.*
AU  - Zeidler, R.*
AU  - Hammerschmidt, W.
AU  - Moosmann, A.
C1  - 2396
C2  - 24738
SP  - 75-85
TI  - Activated B cells mediate efficient expansion of rare antigen-specific T cells.
JO  - Hum. Immunol.
VL  - 68
IS  - 2
PB  - Elsevier
PY  - 2007
SN  - 0198-8859
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The preferential expression of the non-polymorphic human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) on invading extravillous cytotrophoblast cells that are, with the exception of HLA-C and -E, HLA class I negative led to the hypothesis that HLA-G plays a major role in controlling the effector functions of the large granular leukocytes (LGL), a specialized natural killer (NK) cell population present in large numbers in the decidua. Transcription of the HLA-G gene is characterized by extensive alternative splicing producing at least seven potentially membrane bound or secreted isoforms. Except for HLA-G1 and its soluble variant (HLA-G1s), there is still dispute as to whether any of the other isoforms displays a major immunological function. Here we describe that the membrane-bound isoforms HLA-G2, -G3, and G4 as well as the soluble variant of HLA-G2 (HLA-G2s) do not egress the endoplasmic reticulum as determined by Endo H sensitivity assays. Moreover these isoforms seem not to have a major immunological function with respect to NK cell inhibition by providing a ligand for HLA-E, which would allow the interaction of this molecule with the inhibitory CD94/NKG2A NK cell receptor.
AU  - Ulbrecht, M.*
AU  - Maier, S.*
AU  - Hofmeister, V.*
AU  - Falk, C.S.
AU  - Brooks, A.G.*
AU  - McMaster, M.T.*
AU  - Weiss, E.H.*
C1  - 2864
C2  - 21808
SP  - 200-208
TI  - Truncated HLA-G isoforms are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum and insufficiently provide HLA-E ligands.
JO  - Hum. Immunol.
VL  - 65
IS  - 3
PY  - 2004
SN  - 0198-8859
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ulbrecht, M.*
AU  - Hofmeister, V.*
AU  - Yüksekdag, G.*
AU  - Ellwart, J.W.
AU  - Hengel, H.*
AU  - Momburg, F.*
AU  - Martinozzi, S.*
AU  - Reboul, M.*
AU  - Pla, M.*
AU  - Weiss, E.H.*
C1  - 22153
C2  - 20848
SP  - 231-237
TI  - HCMV glycoprotein US6 mediated inhibition of TAP does not affect HLA-E dependent protection  of K-562 cells from NK cell lysis.
JO  - Hum. Immunol.
VL  - 64
PY  - 2003
SN  - 0198-8859
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Falk, C.S.
AU  - Schendel, D.J.
C1  - 9427
C2  - 20295
SP  - 8-19
TI  - Allogenic MHC Class I Ligands and Their Role in Positive and Negative Regulation of Human Cytotoxic Effector Cells.
JO  - Hum. Immunol.
VL  - 63
PB  - Elsevier
PY  - 2002
SN  - 0198-8859
ER  -