Immunosuppression is often identified in cancer patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate several immune parameters for patients with breast and lung cancer. Immunophenotyping analysis showed that the cancer patients investigated had significantly lower absolute numbers of peripheral blood lymphocytes than controls. The immunosuppression was more evident for the breast cancer subgroup. The most severe immune defect noticed was the marked impairment of IFN-gamma secretion. A shift toward the Th2 phenotype as revealed by assessment of intracellular level of IFN-gamma and IL-4 was also noticed. The secretion of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1beta and TNF-alpha in whole blood cultures was not impaired. Although the proportion of activated cells was slightly lower than in the control group, our results showed that both peripheral T lymphocytes and NK cells of cancer patients could be induced to express early activation marker CD69 after ex vivo mitogen stimulation. In conclusion, our study revealed several immune defects in cancer patients. This suggests that an appropriate immunotherapeutical approach might be used to restore compromised immune functions with beneficial effects on both antitumor and general immunity.

Network-forming polymerization of methacrylamide gelatin and acrylamide generates scaffolds with controlled biocompatibility and water affinity.

Biocompatible composites play a critical role as scaffolds in tissue engineering. Novel biocomposites made from poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and bacterial cellulose (BC) in different concentrations were prepared by solution casting and their thermal and mechanical behavior as well as biocompatibility was characterized. BC addition increased the thermal stability of the polymer matrix as evidenced by thermogravimetric analysis. The crystallinity of PHB and the crystallization temperature decreased with the addition of BC and PHA, thus increasing the processing window. BC in small concentration determined an increase in the mechanical properties due to a concerted action of PHA and filler. Good cells attachment and proliferation were observed for all the biocomposites. By the addition of PHA (more hydrophobic than the matrix) and various amounts of BC (highly hydrophilic), surface properties and cell attachment can be controlled. Cytocompatibility studies using L929 cell line revealed that this material is suitable for biomedical applications. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 104A: 2576-2584, 2016.

No abstract

The cytokine secretion patterns of these macrophages suggest that primary tumor cell culture supernatants are able to switch the macrophage phenotype or to induce functional polarization of macrophages toward a mixed M1/M2 phenotype. Conclusions. These data support the hypothesis that TAM behavior is modulated by the tumor microenvironment itself.