The aim of this study was to investigate if PMNs from AAV patients are stimulated more readily by ANCA BGJ398 compared with

PMNs from healthy controls (HCs). Differences in ANCA characteristics that can account for different stimulation potential were also studied. PMNs from five AAV patients and five HCs were stimulated with 10 different immunoglobulins (Ig)Gs, purified from PR3–ANCA-positive patients, and ROS production, degranulation and neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation was measured. ANCA levels, affinity and clinical data of the AAV donors were recorded. The results show that PMNs from AAV patients produce more intracellular ROS (P = 0·019), but degranulate to a similar extent as PMNs from HCs. ROS production correlated with NET formation. Factors that may influence the ability of ANCA to activate PMNs include affinity and specificity for

N-terminal epitopes. In conclusion, our results indicate that PMNs from AAV patients in remission behave quite similarly to HC PMNs, with the exception of a greater intracellular Selleckchem GSK1120212 ROS production. This could contribute to more extensive NET formation and thus an increased exposure of the ANCA autoantigens to the immune system. “
“In the thymus, in order to become MHC-restricted self-tolerant T cells, developing thymocytes need to interact with cortical and medullary thymic epithelial cells (TECs). Although the presence of a common bipotent progenitor for these functionally and structurally distinct epithelial subsets has been clearly established, the initial developmental stages of these bipotent cells have not been well characterized.

In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, Baik et al. [Eur. J. Immunol. 2013.43: 589–594] focus on the phenotypical changes Wilson disease protein of the early bipotent populations and show how the cortical and medullary markers are sequentially acquired during TEC development. These findings argue against a binary model in which both cortical and medullary lineages diverge simultaneously from lineage-negative TEC progenitors and highlight an unexpected overlap in the phenotypic properties of these bipotent TECs with their lineage-restricted counterparts. The essential function of the thymus is to generate and select new T cells with functional and self-tolerant TCRs for proper adaptive immune responses. During embryogenesis, the thymus, together with parathyroid glands, originates from the third embryonic pharyngeal pouch, and in the mouse, starts to form around embryonic day E10 and E11 of gestation.