A Mathematical Modelling of Initiation of Dendritic Cells-Induced T Cell Immune Response.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent specialized antigen-presenting cells as now known, which play a crucial role in initiating and amplifying both the innate and adaptive immune responses. Immunologically, the motilities and T cell activation capabilities of DCs are closely related to the resulting immune responses. However, due to the complexity of the immune system, the dynamic changes in the number of cells during the peripheral tissue (e.g. skin and mucosa) immune response induced by DCs are still poorly understood. Therefore, this study simulated dynamic number changes of DCs and T cells in this process by constructing several ordinary differential equations and setting the initial conditions of the functions and parameters. The results showed that these equations could simulate dynamic numerical changes of DCs and T cells in peripheral tissue and lymph node, which was in accordance with the physiological conditions such as the duration of immune response, the proliferation rates and the motilities of DCs and T cells. This model provided a theoretical reference for studying the immunologic functions of DCs and practical guidance for the clinical DCs-based therapy against immune-related diseases.

[Recurrence and survival analysis of postoperative patients aged 25 to 59 years with differentiated thyroid carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the recurrence and survival of postoperative patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) aged from 25 to 59 years. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 36 patients with DTC treated in our hospital from 1996 to 2011, and the recurrence and survival status of the patients were recorded. Kaplan-Meier analysis was carried out to analyze factors that affect the patient's survival. RESULTS: Nine patients died of recurrence or metastasis, and the interval between the initial surgery and recurrence ranged from 22 to 46 months. The survival time of the 36 patients ranged from 34 to 135 months with a 10-year survival rate of 75.0%. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that male patients had a significantly shorter mean survival time than female patients (Χ2=3.164, P=0.041); the median survival time of patients aged 45-59 years was obviously shorter than that of patients aged 25-44 years (Χ2=4.622, P=0.032); the postoperative survival in patients with 131I therapy was significantly longer than those who did not receive the therapy (Χ2=4.527, P=0.033), and was not affected by total excision of the thyroid gland (Χ2=0.988, P=0.320). No significant difference was found in the median survival of patients in different clinical stages (Χ2=2.2132, P=0.167). CONCLUSION: In young and middle-aged patients with DTC, postoperative recurrence is the most likely in 2 to 4 years after the surgery. Male patients at 45-59 years of age who do not receive 131I treatment are at high risks of tumor recurrence.