Intensive care units (ICUs) are expert hospital areas that provide treatment and 24 h care for people who are very sick. Sepsis represents a serious, severe condition and it can lead to septic shock a Show more
Intensive care units (ICUs) are expert hospital areas that provide treatment and 24 h care for people who are very sick. Sepsis represents a serious, severe condition and it can lead to septic shock and multiple organ dysfunction syndromes and is one of the most common reasons for patients' hospitalization in ICUs. We wanted to explore the prognostic values of interleukin (IL) 33, soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (sST2), IL 27, and galectin 3 in critically-ill patients. We assumed that these parameters in combination or alone could predict mortality in ICU patients. This research represents a clinical non-randomized prospective study, performed at the Medical Military Academy, a tertiary care hospital in Belgrade, Serbia. The patients were divided in four groups: patients with sepsis (peritonitis, pancreatitis, trauma) and patients without sepsis (trauma). Total number of patients enrolled in the study was 151 and average years of patients were 56.48. The values greater than the cut-off were the predictors of mortality. The IL-33, IL-27 as well as galectin-3 can successfully predict the outcome of critically-ill patients in ICUs. The sST2, cannot predict death in critically-ill patients as a single prognostic factor. However, the combination of at least two biomarkers: IL-33, sST2, IL-27, and galectin-3, gives very significant results in predicting the outcome in patients admitted to ICUs. Show less
Breast cancer is considered refractory to immunotherapy. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for the therapeutic use of new immunostimulatory agents which would enhance antitumor immune response agai Show more
Breast cancer is considered refractory to immunotherapy. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for the therapeutic use of new immunostimulatory agents which would enhance antitumor immune response against breast cancer cells. "Derived Multiple Allogeneic Protein Paracrine Signaling (d-MAPPS)" is a biological product whose activity is based on chemokines and cytokines that modulate homing and phenotype of immune cells. d-MAPPS contains high concentration of dendritic cell (DC) and T cell-attracting chemokine CXCL16 and potent T cell-activating cytokine IL-27 which enhance DC:T cell cross-talk in inflamed tissues. Herewith, we used 4T1 murine model of breast cancer to analyze d-MAPPS-dependent enhancement of T cell-driven antitumor immunity. 4T1+d-MAPPS-treated mice showed delayed mammary tumor appearance compared to 4T1+saline-treated animals. d-MAPPS significantly reduced tumor weight and volume and improved survival of 4T1-treated mice. Significantly increased concentration of CXCL16, IL-27, IFN- Show less