Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies

About: Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies is a nonprofit organization based out in San Diego, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Antigen & T cell. The organization has 2323 authors who have published 2217 publications receiving 112618 citations.

First Report of the Presence of East African Cassava Mosaic Virus in Cameroon.

Abstract: Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) occurs in all cassava-growing regions of Africa, India, and Sri Lanka. Characterized by mosaic and distortion of cassava leaves and reduced plant growth, causing high yield losses, CMD is caused by geminiviruses (genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviridae) transmitted through infected cuttings or by the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. Three such geminiviruses have been described: African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV) occurs in most of the cassava-producing zones of Africa; East African cassava mosaic virus (EACMV) in East Africa; and Indian cassava mosaic virus (ICMV) in the Indian subcontinent (1). The two components of ACMV and ICMV genomes, DNA-A and DNA-B, have been sequenced; only DNA-A of EACMV has been identified and sequenced. Variations in symptom expression and severity within the same cassava variety have been observed in Cameroon. To determine the nature of the virus species inducing such variations, 50 samples were collected from CMD-infected plants in the savannah and rainf...

Human B cells express the orphan chemokine receptor CRAM‐A/B in a maturation‐stage‐dependent and CCL5‐modulated manner

Abstract: Chemokines orchestrate the organization of leucocyte recruitment during inflammation and homeostasis. Despite growing knowledge of chemokine receptors, some orphan chemokine receptors are still not characterized. The gene CCRL2 encodes such a receptor that exists in two splice variants, CRAM-A and CRAM-B. Here, we report that CRAM is expressed by human peripheral blood and bone marrow B cells, and by different B-cell lines dependent on the B-cell maturation stage. Intriguingly, CRAM surface expression on the pre-B-cell lines Nalm6 and G2 is specifically upregulated in response to the inflammatory chemokine CCL5 (RANTES), a chemokine that is well known to play an important role in modulating immune responses. Although Nalm6 cells do not express any of the known CCL5 binding receptors, extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) are phosphorylated upon CCL5 stimulation, suggesting a direct effect of CCL5 through the CRAM receptor. However, no calcium mobilization or migratory responses upon CCL5 stimulation are induced in B-cell lines or in transfected cells. Also, ERK1/2 phosphorylation cannot be inhibited by pertussis toxin, suggesting that CRAM does not couple to Gi proteins. Our results describe the expression of a novel, non-classical chemokine receptor on B cells that is potentially involved in immunomodulatory functions together with CCL5.

Tissue-engineered skin substitutes.

Abstract: The last two years have seen new tissue-engineered skin substitutes come onto the market and begin to resolve the various roles to which each is best suited. It is becoming evident that some of the very expensive cell-based products have cost-benefit advantage despite their high price and are valuable within the restricted applications for which they are intended. The use of skin substitutes for testing purposes has extended from epidermal keratinocytes to other integumentary epithelia and into preparations containing multiple cell types in which reactions resulting from paracrine interactions can be examined. Challenges remain in the application of gene therapy techniques to skin substitutes, both the control of transgene expression and in the selection of suitable genes to transfect. A coming challenge is the production of tissue-engineered products without the use of animal products other than human cells. A challenge that may be diminishing is the importance of acute rejection of allogeneic tissue-eng...