In addition, this NFR-like pattern is

never associated with EMA and, in the controls treated with 12 months of gluten withdrawal, it did not disappear, showing the absence of a gluten dependency. On the other hand, as only two of 20 CD patients evaluated in this study show serum ANA-positive results, it is possible to conclude that NFR antibodies are different selleck chemicals from the classics ANA. Incidentally, the ANA prevalence observed in our CD patients does not exceed the frequency reported currently for different classes of healthy individuals [35]. In conclusion, this is an early translational study describing a new autoantibody named NFR related to CD. In fact, the presence of NFR antibodies in CD patients’ serum is gluten-dependent and, accordingly, they could be considered to be CD-specific. The identity of NFR-related 65- and 49-kDa autoantigens is yet unknown, and therefore further investigations should be addressed to either obtain new knowledge on the humoral response of CD or to facilitate the development of a novel and promising serological test. In this regard, if our data are confirmed by large clinical trials, serum NFR antibody detection might to become a useful tool to monitor treated CD patients. The present study was supported by research funds assigned to Antonio Picarelli MD from the Sapienza University, Rome, 17-AAG supplier Italy. Authors declare that there

are no financial or other relationships that might lead to conflicts of interest. “
“This Viewpoint series provides authoritative and detailed outlines of exciting areas of DC research. Some of the subjects that frequently come up include development of DC; distribution of DC in lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues such as skin, intestine and lung; different

forms or subsets of DC; and the role of DC in initiating tolerance and immunity. In this Preface, I will introduce the Viewpoints and consider some future challenges as well as the medical relevance of DC research. The development of DC, at least in mice, can be described with increasing precision because of discoveries summarized in the Viewpoint by Liu and Flucloronide Nussenzweig 1: (i) in the steady state, DC arise from a bone marrow progenitor that is shared with monocytes and macrophages 2; (ii) this progenitor gives rise to two cell types in the steady-state bone marrow: monocytes and a common DC progenitor 3–5; (iii) the latter gives rise to committed preDC that express some MHC II and CD11c, leave the marrow and circulate briefly in the blood before populating lymphoid and non-lymphoid organs 6, 7; (iv) Flt3 ligand (Flt3L) drives DC development 8, so that Flt3 knockout mice have a DC deficit 9, while administration of Flt3L expands DC numbers at least ten-fold in mice 10 and in humans 11. The discovery of distinct steps in DC development should make it possible to identify the relevant transcription factors and, in turn, new markers to improve the definition and understanding of the DC lineage.