Ultrasound-guided core needle biopsies for workup of lymphadenopathy and lymphoma.

BACKGROUND: For the histopathological diagnosis of lymphoma, lymph node excision biopsies are regarded as standard of care. In contrast, for the diagnosis of carcinoma and deep-seated tumors, core needle biopsies (CNBs) are accepted as a sufficient sampling method. We evaluated a diagnostic algorithm for peripheral lymphadenopathy starting with ultrasound-guided CNB followed by excisional biopsy in ambiguous cases. METHODS: We performed ultrasound-guided CNB of peripheral lymph nodes and subcutaneous tumors in patients with lymphadenopathy in routine care and analyzed its accuracy, complication rate, and the impact of needle sizes on results. RESULTS: From 138 patients, 132 samples were technically adequate. In 121 patients, CNB provided a clinically actionable diagnosis (76 lymphoma, 30 carcinoma, 15 non-malignant diagnoses). A total of 54 patients had a secondary biopsy. Inconclusive diagnoses were rare with two false-positive and two false-negative non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and higher for Hodgkin's lymphoma with five false-negative cases. The rate of complications was low. Needle size did not significantly influence results. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound-guided CNBs are a safe, quick, and valid tool for the workup of lymphadenopathy. Yet, a benign diagnosis from CNB must be completed by a secondary biopsy if clinical presentation suggests malignant disease.

The modulation of adaptive immune responses by bacterial zwitterionic polysaccharides.

The detection of pathogen-derived molecules as foreign particles by adaptive immune cells triggers T and B lymphocytes to mount protective cellular and humoral responses, respectively. Recent immunological advances elucidated that proteins and some lipids are the principle biological molecules that induce protective T cell responses during microbial infections. Polysaccharides are important components of microbial pathogens and many vaccines. However, research concerning the activation of the adaptive immune system by polysaccharides gained interest only recently. Traditionally, polysaccharides were considered to be T cell-independent antigens that did not directly activate T cells or induce protective immune responses. Here, we review several recent advances in "carbohydrate immunobiology". A group of bacterial polysaccharides that are known as "zwitterionic polysaccharides (ZPSs)" were recently identified as potent immune modulators. The immunomodulatory effect of ZPSs required antigen processing and presentation by antigen presenting cells, the activation of CD4 T cells and subpopulations of CD8 T cells and the modulation of host cytokine responses. In this review, we also discuss the potential use of these unique immunomodulatory ZPSs in new vaccination strategies against chronic inflammatory conditions, autoimmunity, infectious diseases, allergies and asthmatic conditions.

Interleukin-6 is essential for zwitterionic polysaccharide-mediated abscess formation.

Abscess formation associated with secondary peritonitis causes severe morbidity and can be fatal. Formation of abscesses requires the presence of CD4+ T-cells. Zwitterionic polysaccharides (ZPSs) represent a novel class of immunomodulatory bacterial antigens that stimulate CD4+ T-cells in a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-dependent manner. The capsular polysaccharide Sp1 of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 1 possesses a zwitterionic charge with free amino groups and promotes T-cell-dependent abscess formation in an experimental mouse model. So far, nothing is known about the function of Interleukin (IL)-6 in intraperitoneal abscess formation. Here, we demonstrate that macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs), the most prevalent professional antigen-presenting cells involved in the formation of abscesses, secrete Interleukin (IL)-6 and are incorporated in the abscess capsule. Sp1 inhibits apoptosis of CD4+ T-cells and causes IL-17 expression by CD4+ T-cells in an IL-6-dependent manner. Abrogation of the Sp1-induced pleiotropic effects of IL-6 in IL-6-deficient mice and mice treated with an IL-6-specific neutralizing antibody results in significant inhibition of abscess formation. The data delineate the essential role of IL-6 in the linkage of innate and adaptive immunity in polysaccharide-mediated abscess formation.

Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 1 capsular polysaccharide induces CD8CD28 regulatory T lymphocytes by TCR crosslinking.

Zwitterionic capsular polysaccharides (ZPS) of commensal bacteria are characterized by having both positive and negative charged substituents on each repeating unit of a highly repetitive structure that has an alpha-helix configuration. In this paper we look at the immune response of CD8(+) T cells to ZPSs. Intraperitoneal application of the ZPS Sp1 from Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 1 induces CD8(+)CD28(-) T cells in the spleen and peritoneal cavity of WT mice. However, chemically modified Sp1 (mSp1) without the positive charge and resembling common negatively charged polysaccharides fails to induce CD8(+)CD28(-) T lymphocytes. The Sp1-induced CD8(+)CD28(-) T lymphocytes are CD122(low)CTLA-4(+)CD39(+). They synthesize IL-10 and TGF-beta. The Sp1-induced CD8(+)CD28(-) T cells exhibit immunosuppressive properties on CD4(+) T cells in vivo and in vitro. Experimental approaches to elucidate the mechanism of CD8(+) T cell activation by Sp1 demonstrate in a dimeric MHC class I-Ig model that Sp1 induces CD8(+) T cell activation by enhancing crosslinking of TCR. The expansion of CD8(+)CD28(-) T cells is independent, of direct antigen-presenting cell/T cell contact and, to the specificity of the T cell receptor (TCR). In CD8(+)CD28(-) T cells, Sp1 enhances Zap-70 phosphorylation and increasingly involves NF-kappaB which ultimately results in protection versus apoptosis and cell death and promotes survival and accumulation of the CD8(+)CD28(-) population. This is the first description of a naturally occurring bacterial antigen that is able to induce suppressive CD8(+)CD28(-) T lymphocytes in vivo and in vitro. The underlying mechanism of CD8(+) T cell activation appears to rely on enhanced TCR crosslinking. The data provides evidence that ZPS of commensal bacteria play an important role in peripheral tolerance mechanisms and the maintenance of the homeostasis of the immune system.

Oligoclonal CD4+ T cells promote host memory immune responses to Zwitterionic polysaccharide of Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Zwitterionic polysaccharides of the normal flora bacteria represent a novel class of antigens in that they correct systemic CD4(+) T-cell deficiencies and direct lymphoid organogenesis during colonization of the host. Presentation of these polysaccharides to CD4(+) T cells depends on major histocompatibility complex class II- and DM-dependent retrograde transport from lysosomes to the cell surface. Yet the phenotype and clonality of the immune response to the polysaccharide in the mature host immune system have not been studied. Using the zwitterionic capsular polysaccharide Sp1 of Streptococcus pneumoniae, a transient member of the bacterial flora, in an experimental mouse model of cellular immunity, we demonstrated the accumulation of TH1- and TH17-polarized CD4(+) CD44(high) CD62(low) CD25(-) memory T cells. Subcutaneous immunization with Sp1 resulted in an increase of serum immunoglobulin G (IgG), predominantly of the IgG1 subclass, and suggested the presence of a humoral memory response to the polysaccharide. CD4(+) T cells stimulated with polysaccharide in vitro and in vivo showed a nonrestricted pattern for the T-cell receptor (TCR) beta-chain variable region, as demonstrated by semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR and flow cytometry. Clonotype mapping of in vivo and in vitro polysaccharide-activated CD4(+) T cells revealed clonotypic TCR transcripts. Taken together, the data show the induction of clonal expansion of CD4(+) T cells by polysaccharides of commensal bacteria. Cellular and humoral memory host responses imply the ability of these polysaccharides to mediate the expansion of T cells via recognition within the CDR3 region of the TCR.

Transport of Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular polysaccharide in MHC Class II tubules.

Bacterial capsular polysaccharides are virulence factors and are considered T cell-independent antigens. However, the capsular polysaccharide Sp1 from Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 1 has been shown to activate CD4(+) T cells in a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-dependent manner. The mechanism of carbohydrate presentation to CD4(+) T cells is unknown. We show in live murine dendritic cells (DCs) that Sp1 translocates from lysosomal compartments to the plasma membrane in MHCII-positive tubules. Sp1 cell surface presentation results in reduction of self-peptide presentation without alteration of the MHCII self peptide repertoire. In DM-deficient mice, retrograde transport of Sp1/MHCII complexes resulting in T cell-dependent immune responses to the polysaccharide in vitro and in vivo is significantly reduced. The results demonstrate the capacity of a bacterial capsular polysaccharide antigen to use DC tubules as a vehicle for its transport as an MHCII/saccharide complex to the cell surface for the induction of T cell activation. Furthermore, retrograde transport requires the functional role of DM in self peptide-carbohydrate exchange. These observations open new opportunities for the design of vaccines against microbial encapsulated pathogens.