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The pathogenesis of COVID-19 involves both humoral and cellular immunological responses, with cell-mediated immunity being discussed as the primary and most effective immune response to viral infection. It is supposed that COVID-19 vaccines also elicited effective cell immune response, and specifically IFNγ secreted by SARS-CoV-2-specific T-helper 1 and Tcytotoxic cells. Using an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) test, we aimed to monitor cellular post-vaccination immunity in healthy subjects vaccinated with BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty). We tested 37 healthcare workers (mean age 54.3 years, range 28–72, 22 females, 15 males) following COVID-19 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and 15 healthy unvaccinated native persons as control subjects using QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 RUO test, performed approximately 1 month after vaccination. We also measured virus-neutralizing antibodies. Thirty-one out of 37 tested subjects had significantly raised levels of SARS-CoV-2 specific IFNγ against SARS-CoV-2 Ag1 and Ag2 1 month following COVID-19 vaccination. In addition, we found a significant difference between the IFNγ levels in fully vaccinated subjects and the control group (p < 0.01).We also found a substantial correlation (r = 0.9; p < 0.01) between virus-neutralizing antibodies titers and IFNγ concentrations released by T cells. We believe that IGRA tests are an excellent tool to assess the development of a post-vaccination immune response when immunized against SARS-CoV-2. However, IGRA-based tests should be performed within a few weeks following vaccination. Therefore, we can speculate that the application of these tests to assess long-term immune response is debatable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to assess the immunoregulatory effects of secretory factors produced by adipose tissue-derived MSC (AT-MSC) on Th17 and Treg subsets from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). 17 patients with active disease matching the ACR/EULAR 2010 criteria for RA were included. Patients' peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were cultured in AT-MSC-conditioned medium (AT-MSCcm) and in control medium. The cytokine production of AT-MSC and PBMC was quantified by ELISA. Th17 and Treg were determined by flow cytometry. AT-MSCcm contained: IL-6, IL-17, IL-21, CCL2, CCL5, IL-8, sVEGF-A and PGE2. Cultivation of patients' PBMC with AT-MSCcm increased TGF-β1 (8318 pg/ml; IQR 6327–11,686) vs control medium [6227 pg/ml (IQR 1681–10,148, p = 0.013)]. PBMC cultivated with AT-MSCcm downregulated TNF-α, IL-17A, and IL-21 compared to control PBMC: 5 pg/ml IQR (1.75–11.65) vs 1 pg/ml (IQR 0.7–1.9), p = 0.001; 4.2 pg/ml (IQR 3.1–6.1) vs 2.3 pg/ml (IQR.75–5.42), p = 0.017; 66.9 pg/ml (IQR 40.6–107.2) vs 53 pg/ml (IQR 22–73), p = 0.022. Th17 decreased under the influence of AT-MSCcm: 10.13 ± 3.88% vs 8.98 ± 3.58%, p = 0.02. CD4+FoxP3+, CD4+CD25−FoxP3+, and CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ was 11.35 ± 4.1%; 7.13 ± 3.12% and 4.22 ± 2% in control PBMC. Accordingly, CD4+FoxP3+, CD4+CD25−FoxP3+, and CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ significantly increased in PBMC cultured with AT-MSCcm: 15.6 ± 6.1%, p = 0.001; 9.56 ± 5.4%, p = 0.004 and 6.04 ± 3.6%, p = 0.001. All these effects could define MSC-based approaches as adequate avenues for further treatment development in RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant tumor in the central nervous system. One of the contemporary hypotheses postulates that its pathogenesis is associated with the cancer stem cells (CSCs) which originate from mutations in the normal neural stem cells residing in their specific 'niches.' Simultaneously with its aggressive development the tumor suppresses the local immune system by different secreted and/or cell expressed factors. Progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF) is an immunomodulatory protein with known role in the regulation of the immune response in the reproductive system. Expression of PIBF has been described in some tumors as one of the factors suppressing the anti-tumor immunity. The aim of the present study was to check for the expression of PIBF from cells isolated from six GBMs. To characterize the cultured cells and to study the PIBF expression confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, ELISA, and real-time PCR were used. The results obtained showed expression of markers typical for cancer CSCs and secretion of interleukin 6 by the GBM-derived cultured cells. The results convincingly prove that PIBF is intracellularly expressed by the cultured cells from the all six GBM samples, and this fact is confirmed by three different methods-flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, and real-time PCR. This paper reports for the first time the expression of PIBF by GBM-derived cells cultured in vitro and reveals a new aspect of the immunosuppressive mechanism used by GBM in escaping the immune control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]