Children are assessed for immunization status at designated voucher pick-up time and are referred to immunization providers if they were not appropriately vaccinated for their age. So far WIC has shown mixed results, the incentives have resulted in improvement in age-appropriate immunization coverage in some studies while it has shown no improvement in another study [6], [20], [35] and [36]. No documentation is available regarding

testing of economic incentives intervention in any developing country. The Selleckchem Wortmannin results presented in this report and other studies [6], [19], [25], [37], [38] and [39] demonstrate that economic www.selleckchem.com/products/Bosutinib.html incentives are associated with increased immunization coverage, at least in the short term. However, there are no published data on the sustainability of such incentive-based

programs. National immunization programs could justify incentive-based strategies in view of the total cost incurred in terms of disease treatment resulting from lack of proper vaccinations. Further, higher socio-economic groups may not be equally influenced by such food/medicine coupon incentives. Therefore, an incentive-based strategy may only yield desired results in geographically targeted areas with high poverty. The generalizability of results may be limited to low socio-economic populations in developing countries with

low immunization coverage rates. Although, in our study the food/medicine coupon improved the timely completion of DTP series, up-to-date coverage achieved in the intervention arm was far below the 90% immunization coverage by 12 months of age recommended by Millennium Development Goals. Incentives can improve coverage, but this intervention on its own may not be sufficient. Moreover, the relevant ethical issues need to be studied and the impact of incentives in various settings needs to be assessed. Immunization coverage is a function of multiple factors including parental behavior, awareness, access to care, provider behavior, laws and regulations, national policies Edoxaban [6]. Interventions are required at all these levels to make an impact in improving immunization coverage. Ethical aspects of incentives in research and health programs have not received much attention. The appropriateness of incentives in healthcare still remains controversial and requires further research and discussion to answer all the questions. Grant [40] concludes that incentives become unethical when incentives involve dependency, risk is high, actions are degrading, incentive is significantly large to overcome the aversion to participate, or there is principled aversion.

The mean recovery of PZA from plasma

spiked samples of PZA, in terms of LQC, MQC and HQC levels were respectively, 27.99%, 26.52% and 27.13%. The overall recovery of PZA was 27.21% with a coefficient of variation of 2.71% (n = 6). Internal standard recovery at 200 μg/ml of MTZ was 83.34% with a coefficient of variation of 4.38%. A HPLC method was developed and validated for the determination of PZA in human plasma. The extraction process was a single-step liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) procedure employing the use of 70:30% v/v of t-butyl methyl ether and dichloromethane. LLE method is usually devoid of polar interferences thus rendering the sample clean for final HA1077 analysis. The noise is usually absent or at minimum as compared to precipitation or SPE techniques. This assay requires only a small volume of plasma (500 μl). There is no carryover effect. Due to the LLE method of extraction, baseline noise is minimal. Matrix effects are not observed. In conclusion, method validation following FDA guideline

indicated that the developed method has high sensitivity with an LLOQ of 1.02 μg/ml, acceptable recovery, reliability, specificity selleck chemicals llc and excellent efficiency with a total running time of 8.0 min per sample, which is important for large batches of samples. Thus this method can be suitable for pharmacokinetic, bioavailability or bioequivalence studies of PZA in human subjects. This method has been successfully applied to analyze PZA concentrations in human plasma. All authors have none to declare. This authors wish to thank the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India for granting research fellowship under DST-PURSE Programme, to carry out this work. The authors also wish to express

their gratitude to M/s Lupin Pharma Pvt Ltd for supplying the gift sample of pyrazinamide. “
“Invasive fungal infections, particularly in immunosuppressed patients, have continued to increase in incidence during the past 20 years and are now significant causes of morbidity and mortality.1 Long before mankind discovered the existence of microbes, the idea that various synthetic compound had during healing potential, that they contained what we would currently characterize as antimicrobial principles, was well accepted. Since antiquity, man has employed the synthetic to treat common infectious diseases and some of these traditional medicines are still included as part of the habitual treatment of various maladies.2 Autopsy data indicate that more than half of the patients who die with malignancies are infected with Candida spp., approximately one-third with Aspergillus spp., and increasing numbers with Cryptococcus spp. or other fungi such as Fusarium spp.

Surprisingly,

however, the IFNb plasmid only provided a low level of protection despite the fact that it also caused systemic induction of antiviral genes. As the IFN plasmids showed such a large difference in protective effect 8 weeks after injection, we wanted to study if they induced different levels of antiviral proteins in liver and heart, www.selleckchem.com/products/abt-199.html which are strongly affected by ISAV infection. Immunoblotting of Mx and ISG15 were used for this purpose. As shown in Fig. 5A and B, fish injected with IFNb and IFNc plasmids showed similar strong expression of Mx, free ISG15 or ISG15 conjugates in liver 8 weeks after injection while fish injected with IFNa1 plasmid or control plasmid showed faint or no expression of these proteins. These

data did thus not resolve the difference in protection obtained with the IFNb and IFNc plasmids. However, IFNc plasmid induced a higher level of Mx protein in heart compared to IFNb plasmid although this experiment was conducted 14 days after plasmid injection (Fig. 5C). Mx protein was at similar low levels in heart of fish injected with IFNa1 and control plasmid. The difference in protective effects between IFNb and IFNc plasmids might be due to differences in induction of antiviral proteins in cell types, which are important for ISAV infectivity. Accordingly, we decided to do immunohistochemistry of Mx protein in liver and heart of fish 8 weeks after injection with PBS or IFNa1, IFNb Selleckchem RG7420 and IFNc plasmids (Fig. 6). Mx-staining was observed throughout no the liver tissue from IFNb and IFNc treated fish (Fig. 6C and D) while little Mx-staining was seen in liver of PBS and IFNa1

treated fish (Fig. 6A and B). In the IFNb and IFNc groups, Mx was relatively strongly stained in some cells resembling mammalian Kuppfer cells and more weakly stained in hepatocytes. Interestingly, endothelial cells of blood vessels appeared to be more strongly stained for Mx in liver from fish treated with IFNc plasmid than from fish treated with IFNb plasmid. In heart, stratum compactum and stratum spongiosum was strongly stained in IFNc plasmid treated fish (Fig. 6H), but more weakly stained in fish treated with IFNb plasmid (Fig. 6G). Heart from fish treated with PBS or IFNa1 plasmid showed little or no staining (Fig. 6E and F). Previous work has shown that recombinant IFNa1, IFNb and IFNc protect salmon cells against IPNV and ISAV infection in vitro, IFNa1 and IFNc having similar and stronger antiviral activity than IFNb [8] and [9]. In the present work we have studied in vivo antiviral activity of these IFNs delivered as genes in expression plasmids injected i.m., which demonstrated that IFNb and IFNc plasmids, but not IFNa1 plasmid induced systemic up-regulation of antiviral genes in live Atlantic salmon. Notably, only i.m.

An international collaborative study using two independent viability assays and an identity assay was carried out to evaluate the content and suitability of this candidate as WHO RR of BCG vaccine of Moreau RJ sub-strain.

BCG vaccine is a live attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis. Viability of the bacilli is critical for the stimulation of cellular immune responses that provide protection against M. tuberculosis; thus the effectiveness of the BCG vaccine. The cultural viable count assay is not strictly a measure of potency but it is commonly used as a surrogate marker for potency of BCG vaccines. In recent years, a modified ATP assay has been evaluated http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Adriamycin.html and adopted as an appropriate alternative method for estimating viability of BCG vaccines [4], [5], [6] and [7]. The multiplex PCR (mPCR) assay, a molecular

biology technique, has been introduced as a quality control test for identity of BCG vaccine [8]. This is a useful method to distinguish between different sub-strains of BCG that are currently being used in vaccine production. Specific regions of BCG, RD1, 2, 8, 14 and 16 have been successfully employed to produce a fingerprint that Ceritinib differentiates between sub-strains. The SenX3-RegX3 mycobacterial two-component system (responsible for the virulence and phosphate dependant gene expression of M. tuberculosis) has also been identified as a target site for use in identifying BCG sub-strains [8]. This assay has been successfully evaluated in a collaborative study as a molecular identity test for different sub-strains of BCG vaccine

[9]. As in a previous collaborative study [10], three independent methods were used to evaluate the suitability of BCG Moreau-RJ sub-strain as and a WHO Reference Reagent. Its content was defined as number of Colony Forming Units (CFU) and amount of ATP (ng) per ampoule. Multiplex PCR was used to identify the BCG sub-strain. The study report was approved by the WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization (ECBS) in October 2012 and this WHO Reference Reagent of BCG vaccine of Moreau RJ sub-strain has been made available for distribution since 2013. As these BCG Reference Reagents are live preparations, their stability in terms of viability has been monitored in NIBSC annually to ensure these preparations maintain their viability within an acceptable range at time of distribution. The BCG vaccine preparation of Moreau-RJ sub-strain was obtained lyophilized and sterile-filled in ampoules at commercial manufacturing facility with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Five thousand ampoules were generously donated by a well-established BCG vaccine manufacturer (Fundacao Ataulpho de Pavia, Brazil) to WHO. This preparation (NIBSC code: 10/272) was shipped in dry ice and is stored at −20 °C at NIBSC.

Ethics: Obeticholic Acid chemical structure The Erasmus Medical Center Ethics Committee approved the procedures and design of the original trial. Competing interests: No conflicts

of interest are reported. No benefits in any form have been or will be received from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this manuscript. “
“Physiotherapists have a positive attitude to evidence and are interested in using it to improve their daily practice (Jette et al 2003). The move towards evidence-based practice has resulted in an increasing number of randomised clinical trials being carried out. The investigation of interventions that will provide effective and accountable healthcare is only possible when clinical physiotherapists become involved and collaborate in research (Bechtel et al 2006, Stevenson et al 2004). Most of the literature investigating the attitude of clinicians involved in randomised trials is in the area of recruitment of patients by physicians or nurses (Burnett et al 2001, Embi et al 2008, Somkin et al 2005). On the whole, these studies found that recruitment of patients into clinical trials was low because it was affected by physicians’ and nurses’ attitudes or beliefs about the value of the research for the specific find more patient population (such as oncology patients). However, there is one study investigating the perceptions of nurses’ and radiation

therapists’ involvement in clinical trials in a Canadian cancer centre

(Sale 2007). These clinicians perceived a variety of ethical and workload concerns associated with clinical trials in cancer. Most of the focus of clinical trials is on 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase testing the effect of interventions. Therefore, it is not surprising that there has been little or no reporting of physiotherapists’ perceptions of their involvement in the research process and whether they perceive their participation to be beneficial to their clinical practice. Clinicians can be involved in a clinical trial in many ways including recruitment, blinded assessments, What is already known on this topic: Physiotherapists have a positive attitude to evidence to guide their clinical practice, but the involvement of clinical physiotherapists in research is important if clinical interventions are to be investigated adequately. What this study adds: Clinical physiotherapists who participate in research by delivering the intervention in a trial may enjoy the experience and value the evidence generated by the trial. Negative aspects of participating in research may be minimised if the protocol is feasible for the therapists administering the intervention, aligns well with local clinical practice, and does not disadvantage patients who do not participate in the trial. The positive aspects of participating in research generally outweigh the negative aspects.

Before each measurement, 950 μl Hepes buffer was added to 50 μl of the lipoplexes or polyplexes. Toxicity of the lipoplexes and polyplexes was evaluated using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT; Sigma) assay after transfecting the different complexes in the BGM cell line, which are kidney epithelial cells from the African Green Monkey (ATCC: CCL-26). Briefly, BGM cells were seeded in 96-well plates (100 μl/well; 3 × 105 cells/ml) and transfected 24 h later by pipetting the complexes into the culture medium (MEM supplemented

with 10% FCS, 1% vitamins, 1% l-glutamin, 1% streptomycin and 2% vancomycin, all products from Invitrogen). Cytotoxicity of all lipoplexes and polyplexes was tested in duplicate after 24 and 48 h of incubation with the complexes by adding

SB431542 in vitro MTT (10 μl, 0.5 mg/ml) to the cells. The MTT assay was performed as described before [18] and the percentage cell survival was calculated as follows: [OD585–OD620 (transfected cells)]/[OD585–OD620 (non-transfected cells)] × 100%. Complexes inducing less than 40% cell death were selected to perform quantification of ompA expression. To determine transfection efficiencies, lipoplexes and polyplexes were transfected in duplicate in BGM cells, seeded in 24-well plates (500 μl/well; 3 × 105 cells/ml) and cultured in an atmosphere of 37 °C and 5% CO2. After 24 h, the culture medium was removed, cells were rinsed with PBS and MEM, without serum and antibiotics, was added. An appropriate amount of all different lipoplexes and polyplexes was added to the cells. After incubating 3 h at 37 °C and 5% CO2, complexes were removed, cells were rinsed again Selleckchem Fluorouracil with PBS and complete culture medium was added. Naked pDNA and complexes with PolyFect® transfection

reagent (Qiagen) were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. At 24 and 48 h following transfection, cells were trypsinized and almost resuspended in 300 μl PBS. To quantify ompA expression, the percentage of transfected cells was determined by measuring EGFP fluorescence (488 nm) using a FACSCanto flow cytometer (BD Biosciences, Erembodegem, Belgium). Polyplexes and naked pDNA were aerosolised by using a Cirrus™ Nebulizer (Intersurgical Ltd., Berkshire, UK). This nebulizer, designed to provide particles up to 5 μm (mass median diameter of 3.5 μm), was connected to a pump that generated a pressure of 180 kPa and an air flow rate of 8 l/min. Aerosols were collected on a microscopic glass slide allowing the aerosol droplets to condense onto the slide. The condensation fluid was collected in a sterile tube. Afterwards, pDNA concentration, particle size and zeta potential of the nebulised polyplexes were examined. Subsequently, the transfection capability of the nebulised complexes was checked by flow cytometrical analysis of transfected BGM cells as described in Section 2.4. Plasmid DNA integrity was determined using gel electrophoresis.

Purified protein was quantified using Coomassie Plus Protein Assay Reagent (Pierce). The plasmid pCI-EαRFP was prepared by PCR cloning of the EαRFP coding

sequence from the previously described plasmid pTrcHisEαRFP [1] into the mammalian expression plasmid pCIneo (Promega). The plasmid pCI-EαGFP was created by PCR using pTrcHisEαGFP as template. The plasmid pCI-OVAeGFP expresses a cytosolic OVAeGFP fusion protein. HeLa cells were cultured in DMEM supplemented as described above and were transfected using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. To ensure that pCI-EαGFP- and pCI-EαRFP-expressed EαGFP and EαRFP proteins could be correctly processed and the Eα peptide surface displayed, we set up co-culture, cross-presentation assays using Ipatasertib transfected HeLa cells as a source of Eα antigen and B6 (I-E−/I-Ab+) BMDCs as APCs. Dasatinib HeLa cells (obtained from ECACC) were seeded in chamber slides and transfected with pCI-EαGFP, pCI-EαRFP, or control plasmids pCIneo or pCI-OVAeGFP. 24 h post-transfection, B6 BMDCs prepared as described previously [14], were added and cells were co-cultured to allow DCs to acquire plasmid-expressed Ag. BMDC cultures typically contained 85–90% CD11c+ cells. 4 h later, LPS (from Salmonella equi-abortus, Sigma) was added to a final concentration

of 1 μg/ml to induce DC maturation. After 24 h co-cultured CD11c+ DCs were analysed for GFP and surface Y-Ae staining by flow cytometry and by immunofluorescence staining of cells seeded in chamber slides. Lymph node and spleen cell suspensions from TEa Tg mice were prepared as previously described [1]. The Eα peptide-specific Tg CD4 T cells were identified as CD4+Vβ6+Vα2+. B6 recipients received 0.5–1 × 106 Tg T cells in 0.2 ml intravenously in the lateral tail vein 1 day prior to immunisation. In some experiments Tg T cells were labelled with CFSE prior to adoptive transfer as previously described [15]. For EαGFP protein immunisation, different whatever doses (100 μg, 10 μg, 1 μg, 100 ng, 10 ng and 1 ng) diluted in PBS, were administered subcutaneously in the

neck scruff, each with 1 μg/dose LPS (S. equi-abortus, Sigma) as adjuvant. Control mice received PBS containing 1 μg LPS. LPS was added in order to activate APC and drive them from an antigen acquisitive to antigen presenting state as widely described in the literature. For intramuscular DNA immunisation mice received 50 μg plasmid DNA diluted in endotoxin-free PBS in a 50 μl final volume in both tibialis anterior (TA) muscles. At various times after EαGFP subcutaneous protein immunisation and subcutaneous DNA injection, cervical (CLN), brachial (BLN) and inguinal (ILN) lymph nodes were removed, macerated through Nitex mesh (Cadish and Sons, London, UK) and digested with 1 mg/ml Collagenase A (Sigma) and 10 μg/ml DNase A (Roche Diagnostics) in HBSS for 30 min at 37 °C.

In mice carrying xenograft NVP-BEZ235 purchase tumors composed of HER2-overexpressing MCF-7 cells,

tumor growth was stimulated by tamoxifen treatment (Arpino et al., 2007). Clinical studies also showed that the response rate to TAM was reduced from 50% in ER-positive cases with normal HER2 expression to 17% in ER-positive cases with HER2 overexpression (Chung et al., 2002). The HER2 transmembrane protein (185 kDa), which is encoded by the HER2 gene, consists of an extracellular domain for homo- and hetero-dimerization at the N-terminus, a single membrane spanning region and an intracellular domain for tyrosine kinase activity at the C-terminus (Klapper et al., 1999). HER2 is considered to be an orphan receptor, unlike other HER family members, because HER2 is activated without binding a ligand. HER2 is favored as a dimerization partner within the HER family. HER2 dimerization results in autophosphorylation of the intracellular tyrosine kinase domain and regulates cell growth, differentiation and potentiation of intracellular signaling mainly for the initiation Rapamycin chemical structure of cancer formation (Carpenter and Cohen, 1990). The

determinant for the HER2 homo- or hetero-dimerization process with other HER family members is HER2 overexpression (Tzahar et al., 1996). Breast cancer cells that overexpress epithelial-specific ETS transcription factor (ESX/ESE-1/Elf-3) exhibited HER2 gene amplification (Eckel et al., 2003 and Schedin et al., 2004). HER2 overexpression requires the binding of ESX to the HER2 promoter Casein kinase 1 (Chang et al., 1997)

in addition to the binding of DRIP130/Sur2, a metazoan-specific subunit of the human mediator complex, to the transactivation domain of ESX (Asada et al., 2002). The 8 amino acid helical region of ESX mediates its interaction with Sur2; during this process, small organic molecules may interfere with the ESX–Sur2 interaction (Asada et al., 2003). The small molecules reported previously to suppress HER2 expression include adamanolol (Asada et al., 2003), wrenchnolol (Shimogawa et al., 2004), amphipathic isoxazolidine (Lee et al., 2009) and fluoroquinophenoxazine derivatives (Kim et al., 2012). In the present study, we focused on the development of small molecules that were able to down-regulate HER2 expression via inhibition of the ESX–Sur2 interaction. We found that CHO10, a dithiiranylmethyloxy azaxanthone derivative (Fig. 1A), potently inhibited the ESX–Sur2 interaction, which caused the down-regulation of HER2 expression, inhibition of the HER2-mediated signal pathway and apoptosis in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. The inhibitory activity of CHO10 against the HER2-mediated signal pathway sensitized TAM-resistant cancer cells to TAM. HER2, Phospho-HER2 (Tyr877), Phospho-HER2 (Tyr1221/1222), Phospho-HER2 (Tyr1248), EGFR, Phospho-EGFR (Tyr1068), MAPK (Erk1/2), Phospho-p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (Thr202/Thr204), Akt, Phospho-Akt (Ser473), caspase-3, PARP, α-tubulin and Anti-IgG secondary antibody were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology Inc.

6). Les dernières années furent très difficiles : les bouleversements politiques dans son pays, l’absence de financements stables voire de tout financement, ont créé d’énormes difficultés pour le fonctionnement de l’Institut. De plus avec l’âge, l’énergie et la force qui l’animaient autrefois, ont diminué. Néanmoins il a continué à se battre et à travailler jusqu’au bout. ABT-737 chemical structure Parmi les milliards d’êtres humains il en est quelques uns qui laissent leur empreinte en sciences, en économie, en politique… empreinte qui, le cas échéant, bouleversera

le destin des hommes et/ou leur environnement. Pour moi, P.G. Kostyuk faisait partie de cette élite. Et la mission dont il s’est investi c’est la recherche et la transmission du SAVOIR. Les différentes facettes de son parcours ressemblent à une tour de plusieurs étages qu’il aura gravie avec le temps : activités administratives et pédagogiques, création de revues MI-773 order et rédaction d’ouvrages scientifiques, organisation de conférences, cours, réunions… et, au sommet de cette pyramide, comprendre l’INCONNU. Les postes qu’il a occupés, les responsabilités qu’il a exercées, les récompenses honorifiques qui ont pu en découler, ne constituaient pas une fin en soi mais un moyen pour parvenir au but réel

: faire avancer la CONNAISSANCE (Fig. 7). Platon Kostyuk était un homme comme il en existe peu. Son goût du Savoir, sa volonté de dévoiler l’Inconnu, sa recherche de la Vérité transcendent les domaines purement scientifique ou administratif où il excellait. Son humanisme se révèle dans son seul ouvrage autobiographique non scientifique «Sur l’océan du temps» que P.G. Kostyuk termine par ces mots: “Préservez-moi de l’agitation et du mensonge et tenez-moi à l’abri et de la richesse et de la pauvreté”. Je tiens à remercier chaleureusement d’une part, le Dr. Michel Weiss pour avoir

réalisé, à partir d’une version crotamiton longue en russe, un premier condensé en français, et d’autre part, le Dr. Jacques Stinnakre pour son travail de révision approfondi. “
“The vertebrate retina represents the input stage of the visual system. Here, light is transformed by photoreceptors into electrical signals, which are then processed by a complex neural network of horizontal cells, bipolar cells, and amacrine cells (Wässle, 2004 and Masland, 2012). Finally, retinal ganglion cells collect the outcomes of these network operations and encode them in patterns of spikes for transmission along the optic nerve to various downstream brain regions. The signal processing by its neural network means that the retina is not the equivalent of a CCD camera for the rest of the brain. While much of the processing and signal transmission proceeds in a spatially ordered way, it does not occur in a simple pixel-by-pixel fashion.

Serum-resistant strains down-regulate complement activation on their surface by expressing PorB molecules that bind C4b-binding protein or factor H [21]. Phase

variation of glycosyltransferase genes can cause production of LOS species that are more resistant to bactericidal antibodies [22]. Survival of Gc within PMNs may prolong infection and increase dissemination and transmission and occurs by mechanisms not yet fully elucidated [23]. During acute infections, Gc induces a purulent exudate that consists of PMNs, exfoliated epithelial cells, and intracellular and extracellular Gc. The capacity of Gc to evade the inflammatory response is supported PI3K Inhibitor Library high throughput by the observation that Gc colonization levels are similar in BALB/c and C57/BL6 mice despite marked differences in vaginal PMN influx

[24]. Elevated proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines have selleck compound been detected in experimentally infected men [25], but not in naturally infected women unless coinfected with another STI pathogen [26]. In the mouse model Gc selectively induces Th17 cells, which leads to the recruitment of innate defense effectors including PMNs and results in faster clearance of infection [27]. Signaling through TLR4 is critical for Th17 responses in vitro [27] and in vivo [28], and colonization load is increased in TLR4-deficient mice [28]. Gonococcal LOS-mediated signaling through lectins such as DC SIGN induces cytokine production [29] and both PorB and the H.8 lipoprotein stimulate TLR2 leading to NF-κB activation, inflammatory cytokine production, and dendritic cell (DC) maturation [30] and [31].

Activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes in human Metalloexopeptidase monocytic cells or DCs by Gc results in the production of the inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18 and pyronecrosis of the cells [32] and [33] (Fig. 1). The adaptive response to Gc is ineffective as evidenced by the fact that repeat infections are common. The humoral response to uncomplicated Gc infections is poor. Quantitative evaluation of serum and local antibody responses in both female and male subjects presenting with uncomplicated cervicitis or urethritis showed at best only modest responses to antigens expressed by the homologous clinical isolates. Antibody responses were not sustained over the few weeks of follow-up, and there was no discernable memory arising from known prior episodes of infection [26] and [34]. These results are consistent with earlier reports by others (reviewed in [35]). Insights into the mechanisms by which Gc interferes with immune responses are being elucidated (Fig. 1). In mice, Gc suppresses the development of Th1- and Th2-driven adaptive immune responses by mechanisms dependent on TGF-β and IL-10 as well as type 1 regulatory T cells [36] and [37] (Liu et al., Mucosal Immunol, in press).