Although there is a sizable amount of research focusing on adult neural progenitor cells (NPCs) as a therapeutic approach for many neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis, little is known about the pathways that govern NPC survival and apoptosis. Fas, a member of the death receptor superfamily, plays a well-characterized role in the immune system, but its function in neural stem cells remains uncertain. Our study focuses on the effects of Fas on NPC survival in vitro. Activation of Fas by recombinant Fas ligand (FasL) did not induce apoptosis in murine NPCs in culture. In fact, both an increase in the amount of viable cells and a decrease in apoptotic and dying cells were observed with FasL treatment. Our data indicate that FasL-mediated adult NPC neuroprotection is characterized by a reduction in apoptosis, but not increased proliferation. Further investigation of this effect revealed that the antiapoptotic effects of FasL are mediated by the up-regulation of Birc3, an inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP). Conversely, the observed effect is not the result of altered caspase activation or FLIP (Fas-associated death domain-like interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme inhibitory protein) up-regulation, which is known to inhibit caspase-8-mediated cell death in T cells. Our data indicate that murine adult NPCs are resistant to FasL-induced cell death. Activation of Fas increased cell survival by decreasing apoptosis through Birc3 up-regulation. These results describe a novel pathway involved in NPC survival.

New treatment modalities are needed in order to improve the prognosis of women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), the most aggressive gynecologic cancer type. Most ovarian tumors are infiltrated by immune effector cells, providing the rationale for targeted approaches that boost the existing or trigger new anti-tumor immune mechanisms. The field of immuno-oncology has experienced remarkable progress in recent years, although the results seen with single agent immunotherapies in several categories of solid tumors have yet to extend to ovarian cancer. The challenge remains to determine what treatment combinations are most suitable for this disease and which patients are likely to benefit and to identify how immunotherapy should be incorporated into EOC standard of care. We review here some of the most promising immune therapies for EOC and focus on those currently tested in clinical trials.

Interferon-β (IFN-β) is a mainstay therapy for relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the direct effects of IFN-β on the central nervous system (CNS) are not well understood. To determine whether IFN-β has direct neuroprotective effects on CNS cells, we treated adult mouse neural progenitor cells (NPCs) in vitro with IFN-β and examined the effects on proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. We found that mouse NPCs express high levels of IFNα/β receptor (IFNAR). In response to IFN-β treatment, no effect was observed on differentiation or proliferation. However, IFN-β treated mouse NPCs demonstrated decreased apoptosis upon growth factor withdrawal. Pathway-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) arrays demonstrated that IFN-β treatment upregulated the STAT 1 and 2 signaling pathway, as well as GFRA2, NOD1, Caspases 1 and 12, and TNFSF10. These results suggest that IFN-β can directly affect NPC survival, possibly playing a neuroprotective role in the CNS by modulating neurotrophic factors.

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