New analogs of the serum thymic factor, (Phe-NH210)-FTS, (Gln1, Phe-NH210)-FTS, and (des Glp1, Phe-NH210)-FTS were synthesized. Their biological activities were evaluated in the recovery assay of T lymphocytes. The activity of (Phe-NH210)-FTS is comparable to the activity of FTS. Nonapeptide (des Glp1, Phe-NH210)-FTS shows the highest activity so far observed. Analog (Gln1, Phe-NH210)-FTS is an inhibitor.
Mucormycosis has emerged as an important cause of invasive fungal infection in patients with hematologic malignancies. Gastrointestinal mucormycosis is an unusual presentation of this invasive fungal infection, and it causes considerable morbidity and mortality. Such outcomes are due in part to a nonspecific presentation that results in delays in diagnosis and treatment. Successful treatment of gastrointestinal mucormycosis involves surgical debridement and appropriate antifungal therapy.
The potent anti-tumor activities of γδ T cells, their ability to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines, and their strong cytolytic activity have prompted the development of protocols in which γδ agonists or ex vivo-expanded γδ cells are administered to tumor patients. γδ T cells can be selectively activated by either synthetic phosphoantigens or by drugs that enhance their accumulation into stressed cells as aminobisphosphonates, thus offering new avenues for the development of γδ T cell-based immunotherapies. The recent development of small drugs selectively activating Vγ9Vδ2 T lymphocytes, which upregulate the endogenous phosphoantigens, has enabled the investigators to design the experimental approaches of cancer immunotherapies; several ongoing phase I and II clinical trials are focused on the role of the direct bioactivity of drugs and of adoptive cell therapies involving phosphoantigen- or aminobisphosphonate-activated Vγ9Vδ2 T lymphocytes in humans. In this review, we focus on the recent advances in the activation/expansion of γδ T cells in vitro and in vivo that may represent a promising target for the design of novel and highly innovative immunotherapy in patients with hematologic malignancies.<br />
Successful treatment of gastrointestinal mucormycosis in an adult with acute leukemia: case report and literature review