ABSTRACT
CD14dimCD16+ and CD14brightCD16+ cells, which compose a minor population of monocytes in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), have been implicated in several inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate whether this phenotype was present as a subset of lung infiltrative alveolar macrophages (AMs) in the granulomatous lung disease, chronic beryllium disease (CBD). The monocytes subsets was determined from PBMC cells and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells from CBD, beryllium sensitized Non-smoker (BeS-NS) and healthy subjects (HS) using flow cytometry. The impact of smoking on the AMs cell phenotype was determined by using BAL cells from BeS smokers (BeS-S). In comparison with the other monocyte subpopulations, CD14dimCD16+ cells were at decreased frequency in PBMCs of both BeS-NS and CBD and showed higher HLA-DR expression, compared to HS. The AMs from CBD and BeS-NS demonstrated a CD14dimCD16+phenotype, while CD14brightCD16+ cells were found at increased frequency in AMs of BeS, compared to HS. Fresh AMs from BeS-NS and CBD demonstrated significantly greater CD16, CD40, CD86 and HLA-DR than HS and BeS-S. The expression of CD16 on AMs from both CBD and BeS-NS was downregulated significantly after 10µM BeSO4 stimulation. The phagocytic activity of AMs decreased after 10µM BeSO4 treatment in both BeS-NS and CBD, although was altered or reduced in HS and BeS-S. These results suggest that Be increases the CD14dimCD16+ subsets in the lung of CBD subjects. We speculate that Be-stimulates the compartmentalization of a more mature CD16+ macrophage phenotype and that in turn these macrophages are a source of Th1 cytokines and chemokines that perpetuate the Be immune response in CBD. The protective effect of cigarette smoking in BeS-S may be due to the low expression of co-stimulatory markers on AMs from smokers as well as the decreased phagocytic function.
Subject(s)
Berylliosis/pathology , Beryllium/pharmacology , Leukocytes, Mononuclear/drug effects , Lipopolysaccharide Receptors/metabolism , Macrophages, Alveolar/drug effects , Receptors, IgG/metabolism , Aged , Berylliosis/metabolism , Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid/cytology , Chemokines/metabolism , Chronic Disease , Cytokines/metabolism , Female , HLA-DR Antigens/metabolism , Humans , Leukocytes, Mononuclear/cytology , Leukocytes, Mononuclear/metabolism , Lung/cytology , Lung/metabolism , Lung/pathology , Macrophages, Alveolar/cytology , Macrophages, Alveolar/metabolism , Male , Middle Aged , Monocytes/cytology , Monocytes/immunology , Phagocytosis/drug effects , PhenotypeABSTRACT
A new far-field optical microscopy capable of reaching nanometer-scale resolution is developed using the in-plane image magnification by surface plasmon polaritons. This approach is based on the optical properties of a metal-dielectric interface that may provide extremely large values of the effective refractive index neff up to 10(3) as seen by surface polaritons, and thus the diffraction limited resolution can reach nanometer-scale values of lambda/2neff. The experimental realization of the microscope has demonstrated the optical resolution better than 60 nm at 515 nm illumination wavelength.
ABSTRACT
Resolution of a surface immersion microscope has been studied as a function of surface-plasmon-polariton frequency. Enhancement of resolution near the surface-plasmon resonance has been observed. This effect may potentially be used in direct imaging of biological samples in liquid ambient.
Subject(s)
Image Enhancement/methods , Microscopy, Polarization/methods , Surface Plasmon Resonance/methods , Reproducibility of Results , Sensitivity and SpecificityABSTRACT
The spectral dependences of polarized optical transmission of a metal film with a periodic array of elliptical nanoholes have been studied. Such nanostructured metal films exhibit enhanced broadband optical transmission that one can control by selecting the polarization of incident and (or) transmitted light.
ABSTRACT
CD63 is a member of the tetraspanin superfamily of membrane glycoproteins that has been hypothesised to provide a structural network in the organisation of large multimolecular microdomains at cell membranes. Detailed analyses of the role of CD63 in these complexes through mutagenic studies have been limited, however, by the ubiquitous cellular expression of CD63 in vivo and in vitro. In an attempt to define CD63-null cell lines, we have analysed the expression of CD63 and other tetraspanins on a panel of human cancer cell lines. Similar expression patterns were seen between cell lines from melanomas, breast cancers and prostate cancers. The melanoma cell line KM3, however, described previously as a CD63-null human cell line, was found to express none of the 7 human tetraspanins tested. KM3 was identified definitively as a rat cell line by analysis of karyotype and antigen expression. Notably, KM3 was found to express the rat homologue of CD63. Conclusions concerning the function of human CD63 drawn from studies using KM3 cells therefore require re-evaluation as does the frequently cited hypothesis that CD63 expression is linked to melanoma progression. As KM3 is the only cell line thus far identified as CD63 negative, these results highlight the necessity for the production of a CD63 null system.
