French Institute of Health and Medical Research

About: French Institute of Health and Medical Research is a government organization based out in Paris, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Receptor. The organization has 109367 authors who have published 174236 publications receiving 8365503 citations.

Exosome Secretion: Molecular Mechanisms and Roles in Immune Responses

Abstract: Exosomes are small membrane vesicles, secreted by most cell types from multivesicular endosomes, and thought to play important roles in intercellular communications. Initially described in 1983, as specifically secreted by reticulocytes, exosomes became of interest for immunologists in 1996, when they were proposed to play a role in antigen presentation. More recently, the finding that exosomes carry genetic materials, mRNA and miRNA, has been a major breakthrough in the field, unveiling their capacity to vehicle genetic messages. It is now clear that not only immune cells but probably all cell types are able to secrete exosomes: their range of possible functions expands well beyond immunology to neurobiology, stem cell and tumor biology, and their use in clinical applications as biomarkers or as therapeutic tools is an extensive area of research. Despite intensive efforts to understand their functions, two issues remain to be solved in the future: (i) what are the physiological function(s) of exosomes in vivo and (ii) what are the relative contributions of exosomes and of other secreted membrane vesicles in these proposed functions? Here, we will focus on the current ideas on exosomes and immune responses, but also on their mechanisms of secretion and the use of this knowledge to elucidate the latter issue.

Brain activity during observation of actions. Influence of action content and subject's strategy.

Abstract: PET was used to map brain regions that are associated with the observation of meaningful and meaningless hand actions. Subjects were scanned under four conditions which consisted of visually presented actions. In each of the four experimental conditions, they were instructed to watch the actions with one of two aims: to be able to recognize or to imitate them later. We found that differences in the meaning of the action, irrespective of the strategy used during observation, lead to different patterns of brain activity and clear left/right asymmetries. Meaningful actions strongly engaged the left hemisphere in frontal and temporal regions while meaningless actions involved mainly the right occipitoparietal pathway. Observing with the intent to recognize activated memory-encoding structures. In contrast, observation with the intent to imitate was associated with activation in the regions involved in the planning and in the generation of actions. Thus, the pattern of brain activation during observation of actions is dependent both on the nature of the required executive processing and the type of the extrinsic properties of the action presented.

Fcγ Receptor–mediated Induction of Dendritic Cell Maturation and Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I–restricted Antigen Presentation after Immune Complex Internalization

Abstract: Dendritic cells (DCs) express several receptors for the Fc portion of immunoglobulin (Ig)G (FcγR), which mediate internalization of antigen–IgG complexes (immune complexes, ICs) and promote efficient major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II–restricted antigen presentation. We now show that FcγRs have two additional specific attributes in murine DCs: the induction of DC maturation and the promotion of efficient MHC class I–restricted presentation of peptides from exogenous, IgG-complexed antigens. Both FcγR functions require the FcγR-associated γ chain. FcγR-mediated MHC class I–restricted antigen presentation is extremely sensitive and specific to immature DCs. It requires proteasomal degradation and is dependent on functional peptide transporter associated with antigen processing, TAP1-TAP2. By promoting DC maturation and presentation on both MHC class I and II molecules, ICs should efficiently sensitize DCs for priming of both CD4+ helper and CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes in vivo.