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Polymer composites are being considered for numerous thermal applications because of their inherent benefits, such as light weight, corrosion resistance, and reduced cost. In this work, the microstructural, thermal, and mechanical properties of a 3D printed polymer composite with high thermal conductivity are examined using multiple characterization techniques. Infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction reveal that the composite contains a polyphenylene sulfide matrix with graphitic fillers, which is responsible for the high thermal conductivity. Furthermore, differential scanning calorimetry determines that the glass transition and melting point of the composite are 87.6 °C and 285.6 °C, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis reveals that the composite is thermally stable up to ~400 °C. Creep tests are performed at different isotherms to evaluate the long-term performance of the composite. The creep result indicates that the composite can maintain mechanical integrity when used below its glass transition temperature. Nanoindentation tests reveal that modulus and hardness of the composite is not significantly influenced by heating or creep conditions. These findings indicate that the composite is potentially suitable for heat exchanger applications.
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Engineering strong metal-support interactions (SMSI) is an effective strategy for tuning structures and performances of supported metal catalysts but induces poor exposure of active sites. Here, we demonstrate a strong metal-support interaction via a reverse route (SMSIR) by starting from the final morphology of SMSI (fully-encapsulated core-shell structure) to obtain the intermediate state with desirable exposure of metal sites. Using core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) as a building block, the Pd-FeOx NPs are transformed into a porous yolk-shell structure along with the formation of SMSIR upon treatment under a reductive atmosphere. The final structure, denoted as Pd-Fe3O4-H, exhibits excellent catalytic performance in semi-hydrogenation of acetylene with 100% conversion and 85.1% selectivity to ethylene at 80 °C. Detailed electron microscopic and spectroscopic experiments coupled with computational modeling demonstrate that the compelling performance stems from the SMSIR, favoring the formation of surface hydrogen on Pd instead of hydride.
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A numerical analysis was conducted to study a room temperature magnetocaloric refrigerator with a 16-layer parallel plates active magnetic regenerator (AMR). Sixteen layers of LaFeMnSiH having different Curie temperatures were employed as magnetocaloric material (MCM) in the regenerator. Measured properties data was used. A transient one dimensional (1D) model was employed, in which a unique numerical method was developed to significantly accelerate the simulation speed of the multi-layer AMR system. As a result, the computation speed of a multi-layer AMR case was very close to the single-layer configuration. The performance of the 16-layer AMR system in different frequencies and utilizations has been investigated using this model. To optimize the layer length distribution of the 16-layer MCMs in the regenerator, a set of 137 simulations with different MCM distributions based on the Design of Experiments (DoE) method was conducted and the results were analyzed. The results show that the 16-layer AMR system can operate up to 84% of Carnot cycle COP at a temperature span of 41 K, which cannot be obtained using an AMR with fewer layers. The DoE results indicate that for a 16-layer AMR system, the uniform distribution is very close to the optimized design.
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Immune checkpoint blockers (ICB) have become pivotal therapies in the clinical armamentarium against metastatic melanoma (MMel). Given the frequency of immune related adverse events and increasing use of ICB, predictors of response to CTLA-4 and/or PD-1 blockade represent unmet clinical needs. Using a systems biology-based approach to an assessment of 779 paired blood and tumor markers in 37 stage III MMel patients, we analyzed association between blood immune parameters and the functional immune reactivity of tumor-infiltrating cells after ex vivo exposure to ICB. Based on this assay, we retrospectively observed, in eight cohorts enrolling 190 MMel patients treated with ipilimumab, that PD-L1 expression on peripheral T cells was prognostic on overall and progression-free survival. Moreover, detectable CD137 on circulating CD8+ T cells was associated with the disease-free status of resected stage III MMel patients after adjuvant ipilimumab + nivolumab (but not nivolumab alone). These biomarkers should be validated in prospective trials in MMel.The clinical management of metastatic melanoma requires predictors of the response to checkpoint blockade. Here, the authors use immunological assays to identify potential prognostic/predictive biomarkers in circulating blood cells and in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes from patients with resected stage III melanoma.
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The membrane receptor 2B4 is a CD2 family member that is involved in lymphocyte activation. A fraction of human CD8+ alphabeta T cells up-regulate 2B4 in vivo, and here we demonstrate that this correlates with the acquisition of effector cell properties such as granzyme B and perforin expression, rapid IFN-gamma production, and down-regulation of the lymph node homing chemokine receptor CCR7. In PBLs from healthy donors, cytomegalovirus-specific effector T cells were 2B4 positive, whereas naive melanoma Ag (Melan-A/melanoma Ag recognized by T cells-1)-specific T cells were 2B4 negative. In melanoma patients, Melan-A-specific T cells up-regulated 2B4 in parallel with in vivo differentiation. This occurred in PBLs after vaccination with Melan-A peptides and in tumor-infiltrated lymph nodes, likely through disease-associated activation of Melan-A-specific T cells. Thus, 2B4 expression correlates with CD8+ T cell differentiation in vivo.
Assuntos
Antígenos CD , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/metabolismo , Glicoproteínas de Membrana/biossíntese , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T alfa-beta/imunologia , Receptores Imunológicos/biossíntese , Subpopulações de Linfócitos T/imunologia , Subpopulações de Linfócitos T/metabolismo , Antígenos de Neoplasias , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/citologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/enzimologia , Vacinas Anticâncer/imunologia , Vacinas Anticâncer/uso terapêutico , Diferenciação Celular/imunologia , Separação Celular , Epitopos de Linfócito T/análise , Granzimas , Humanos , Interferon gama/biossíntese , Interfase/imunologia , Ativação Linfocitária , Antígeno MART-1 , Melanoma/imunologia , Melanoma/terapia , Proteínas de Neoplasias/imunologia , Proteínas de Neoplasias/uso terapêutico , Perforina , Proteínas Citotóxicas Formadoras de Poros , Serina Endopeptidases/biossíntese , Família de Moléculas de Sinalização da Ativação Linfocitária , Subpopulações de Linfócitos T/citologia , Subpopulações de Linfócitos T/enzimologia , Regulação para Cima/imunologiaRESUMO
Intense efforts of research are made for developing antitumor vaccines that stimulate T cell-mediated immunity. Tumor cells specifically express at their surfaces antigenic peptides presented by MHC class I and recognized by CTL. Tumor antigenic peptides hold promise for the development of novel cancer immunotherapies. However, peptide-based vaccines face two major limitations: the weak immunogenicity of tumor Ags and their low metabolic stability in biological fluids. These two hurdles, for which separate solutions exist, must, however, be solved simultaneously for developing improved vaccines. Unfortunately, attempts made to combine increased immunogenicity and stability of tumor Ags have failed until now. Here we report the successful design of synthetic derivatives of the human tumor Ag Melan-A/MART-1 that combine for the first time both higher immunogenicity and high peptidase resistance. A series of 36 nonnatural peptide derivatives was rationally designed on the basis of knowledge of the mechanism of degradation of Melan-A peptides in human serum and synthesized. Eight of them were efficiently protected against proteolysis and retained the antigenic properties of the parental peptide. Three of the eight analogs were twice as potent as the parental peptide in stimulating in vitro Melan-specific CTL responses in PBMC from normal donors. We isolated these CTL by tetramer-guided cell sorting and expanded them in vitro. The resulting CTL efficiently lysed tumor cells expressing Melan-A Ag. These Melan-A/MART-1 Ag derivatives should be considered as a new generation of potential immunogens in the development of molecular anti-melanoma vaccines.
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Antígenos de Neoplasias/imunologia , Vacinas Anticâncer , Melanoma/imunologia , Melanoma/terapia , Proteínas de Neoplasias/imunologia , Proteínas de Neoplasias/metabolismo , Aminopeptidases/sangue , Antígenos de Neoplasias/metabolismo , Carboxipeptidases/sangue , Células Cultivadas , Testes Imunológicos de Citotoxicidade , Antígenos HLA-A/imunologia , Antígeno HLA-A2 , Humanos , Cinética , Ativação Linfocitária , Antígeno MART-1 , Peptídeos/síntese química , Peptídeos/imunologia , Peptídeos/metabolismo , Linfócitos T Citotóxicos/imunologia , Células Tumorais CultivadasRESUMO
Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex responsible for the maintenance of the length of the telomeres during cell division, which is active in germ-line cells as well as in the vast majority of tumors but not in most normal tissues. The wide expression of the human telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT) in tumors makes it an interesting candidate vaccine for cancer. hTERT-derived peptide 540-548 (hTERT(540)) has been recently shown to be recognized in an HLA-A*0201-restricted fashion by T cell lines derived from peptide-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy donors. As a first step to the inclusion of this peptide in immunotherapy clinical trials, it is crucial to assess hTERT(540)-specific T cell reactivity in cancer patients as well as the ability of hTERT-specific CD8(+) T lymphocytes to recognize and lyse hTERT-expressing target cells. Here, we have analyzed the CD8(+) T cell response to peptide hTERT(540) in HLA-A*0201 melanoma patients by using fluorescent HLA-A*0201/hTERT(540) peptide tetramers. HLA-A*0201/hTERT(540) tetramer(+) CD8(+) T cells were readily detected in peptide-stimulated PBMC from a significant proportion of patients and could be isolated by tetramer-guided cell sorting. hTERT(540)-specific CD8(+) T cells were able to specifically recognize HLA-A*0201 cells either pulsed with peptide or transiently transfected with a minigene encoding the minimal epitope. In contrast, they failed to recognize hTERT-expressing HLA-A*0201(+) target cells. Furthermore, in vitro proteasome digestion studies revealed inadequate hTERT processing. Altogether, these results raise questions on the use of hTERT(540) peptide for cancer immunotherapy.
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Apresentação de Antígeno , Antígenos de Neoplasias/imunologia , Melanoma/imunologia , Fragmentos de Peptídeos/imunologia , Linfócitos T Citotóxicos/imunologia , Telomerase/imunologia , Linhagem Celular , Células Clonais , Cisteína Endopeptidases/farmacologia , Testes Imunológicos de Citotoxicidade , Epitopos/imunologia , Citometria de Fluxo , Antígenos HLA-A/imunologia , Humanos , Complexos Multienzimáticos/farmacologia , Fragmentos de Peptídeos/genética , Complexo de Endopeptidases do Proteassoma , Telomerase/genética , Transfecção , Células Tumorais CultivadasRESUMO
Tumor antigens presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules and recognized by CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) may generate an efficient antitumor immune response after appropriate immunization. Antigenic peptides can be used in vivo to induce antitumor or antiviral immunity. The efficiency of naked peptides may be greatly limited by their degradation in the biological fluids. We present a rational, structure-based approach to design structurally modified, peptidase-resistant and biologically active analogues of human tumor antigen MAGE-1.A1. This approach is based on our understanding of the peptide interaction with the MHC and the T cell receptor and its precise degradation pathway. Knowledge of these mechanisms led to the design of a non-natural, minimally modified analogue of MAGE-1.A1, [Aib2, NMe-Ser8]MAGE-1.A1, which was highly peptidase-resistant and bound to MHC and activated MAGE-1.A1-specific anti-melanoma CTLs. Thus, we showed that it is possible to structurally modify peptide epitopes to obtain analogues that are still specifically recognized by CTLs. Such analogues may represent interesting leads for antitumor synthetic vaccines.
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Antígenos de Neoplasias/imunologia , Desenho de Fármacos , Ativação Linfocitária/efeitos dos fármacos , Melanoma/imunologia , Proteínas de Neoplasias/síntese química , Proteínas de Neoplasias/imunologia , Linfócitos T Citotóxicos/imunologia , Substituição de Aminoácidos , Antígenos de Neoplasias/genética , Linhagem Celular , Cromatografia Líquida de Alta Pressão , Antígeno HLA-A1/metabolismo , Humanos , Cinética , Espectrometria de Massas , Antígenos Específicos de Melanoma , Modelos Moleculares , Estrutura Molecular , Proteínas de Neoplasias/genética , Mutação Puntual , Relação Estrutura-AtividadeRESUMO
Peptide vaccines based on the use of MHC class I restricted epitopes are currently assayed for anti-tumor and anti-viral immunotherapy. With the aim of designing minimally modified, peptidase-resistant analogs, we developed a rational approach based on a detailed understanding of the degradation mechanism of peptides in serum. Degradation of murine tumor antigen P198 and human tumor antigen MAGE-3.A1 was followed by on line high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS). This method provided high precision and sensitivity for rapid and direct analysis of degradation fragments in a complex mixture and, very importantly, precise identification of transient degradation fragments present at low concentrations. The design of structurally modified analogs, and the analysis of their degradation by on-line HPLC/ESI-MS, allowed us to to demonstrate the efficiency of local modifications in the protection of a given peptide bond towards a specific peptidase activity.