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Olive leaf extracts are rich in several polyphenols having potential health benefits. We conducted the current parallel-group randomized controlled trial to compare the effects of long-term consumption of olive leaf tea (OLT) and green tea (GT) on hematological parameters in 31 female volunteers aged between 40 and 70 years of old. We found that RBC count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were increased significantly in the OLT group than those of in the GT group at 6 and 12 weeks of intervention. Within-group comparison showed that hematocrit was significantly increased in the OLT group at 6 weeks of intervention, whereas RBC count and serum iron was significantly decreased in the GT group at 12 weeks of intervention. This is the first clinical study reporting the beneficial effects of continuous intake of OLT on hematological parameters. This observation is supported by our previous in vitro study reporting the differentiation-inducing effect of certain olive leaf components on human hematopoietic stem cells. However, further investigations in larger cohorts with a careful consideration of target population are required to confirm the preventive effect of OLT against anemia and other red cell disorders., (Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The anti-CD28 superagonist antibody TGN1412 caused life-threatening cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in healthy volunteers, which had not been predicted by preclinical testing. T cells in fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) do not respond to soluble TGN1412 but do respond following high-density (HD) preculture. We show for the first time that this response is dependent on crystallizable fragment gamma receptor IIb (FcγRIIb) expression on monocytes. This was unexpected because, unlike B cells, circulating monocytes express little or no FcγRIIb. However, FcγRIIb expression is logarithmically increased on monocytes during HD preculture, and this upregulation is necessary and sufficient to explain TGN1412 potency after HD preculture. B-cell FcγRIIb expression is unchanged by HD preculture, but B cells can support TGN1412-mediated T-cell proliferation when added at a frequency higher than that in PBMCs. Although low-density (LD) precultured PBMCs do not respond to TGN1412, T cells from LD preculture are fully responsive when cocultured with FcγRIIb-expressing monocytes from HD preculture, which shows that they are fully able to respond to TGN1412-mediated activation. Our novel findings demonstrate that cross-linking by FcγRIIb is critical for the superagonist activity of TGN1412 after HD preculture, and this may contribute to CRS in humans because of the close association of FcγRIIb-bearing cells with T cells in lymphoid tissues., (© 2015 by The American Society of Hematology.)

Biomarker research has rapidly expanded over recent years aided by the progressive development of research tools, in particular the different multiplex technologies allowing simultaneous measurement of multiple analytes. It is foreseeable that such technology will have an integral role in clinical studies for establishing biomarker profiles of disease status, but validation of the tools is essential to confirm the reliability of their application. More comparable studies between multiplex platforms are required to enable users to determine which of these are best for a particular clinical study, as different platforms will have varying levels of performance for the validation parameters. Comparison of two multiplex platforms, the Luminex and the Mesoscale Discovery, has been performed to determine their performance for the validation parameters of sensitivity, precision and accuracy for the cytokines IL-2, IL-4, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IFNgamma and TNFalpha. When measuring high concentrations both platforms show good accuracy (within +/-25% recovery) with all cytokines except IL-12 for the MSD. At low concentrations, +/-25% recovery was seen with all cytokines except IL-2 and IL-8 for the Luminex and IL-2 and IL-12 for the MSD. Although quantitative differences are found, relative differences are comparable, and consequently both platforms have been shown to be suitable for analyzing trends in multiple cytokine profiles, with the Luminex having better precision and the Mesoscale Discovery having greater sensitivity.