Lymphocytes play pivotal roles in disease pathogenesis and can be used as potential biomarkers for various immunological conditions. Yet, current flow cytometry methods used in clinical settings are often only capable of measuring between four to eight distinct lymphocyte populations. The purpose of our study was to measure many lymphocyte and monocyte populations from a single sample, with the long-term aim of validating our assay for diagnostic use in the Australian regulatory environment.
We designed and optimised a novel 30-colour lymphocyte immunophenotyping panel tailored for use on a 3-laser (V-B-R) spectral flow cytometer. This panel measures over 50 lymphocyte and monocyte populations.
In this report we present data derived from 148 healthy individuals.
This lays the groundwork for future clinical application of spectral flow cytometry tests and offers a more comprehensive approach to lymphocyte and monocyte analysis with future implications for disease diagnosis and monitoring.
Copyright © 2025 Davies, Kwong, Yu, Diamand, Li, Kannitha, Ali, Amjadipour, Padarin, Devoy, Vohra, Miraghazadeh, Jiang, Brüstle, Cherbuin, Nolan, Cook, Gardiner, Read, McNaughton and Randall.

Brain metastasis is a major cause of breast cancer (BC) mortality, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. BC cells must breach the blood-brain barrier in order to colonize the brain. Here, we determined that integrin β3 (ITGB3) expression mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) plays a critical role in metastasis of BC cells to the brain. Hypoxia stimulated BC cell migration and invasion ex vivo and brain colonization in vivo. Knockdown of either HIF-1α or ITGB3 expression impaired brain colonization by human or mouse BC cells injected into the cardiac left ventricle. Exposure of BC cells to hypoxia increased expression of ITGB3 and its incorporation into small extracellular vesicles (EVs). EVs harvested from the conditioned medium of hypoxic BC cells showed increased retention in the brain after intracardiac injection that was HIF-1α and ITGB3 dependent. EVs from hypoxic BC cells showed binding to brain endothelial cells (ECs), leading to increased EC-BC cell interaction, increased vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 signaling, increased EC permeability, and increased transendothelial migration of BC cells. Taken together, our studies implicate HIF-1-stimulated production of ITGB3+ EVs as a key mechanism by which hypoxia promotes BC brain metastasis.

Ex vivo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapies have revolutionized cancer treatment. However, treatment accessibility is hindered by high costs, long manufacturing times, and the need for specialized centers and inpatient care. Strategies to generate CAR-T cells in vivo have emerged as a promising alternative that could bypass CAR-T manufacturing bottlenecks. Most current in vivo CAR-T approaches, while demonstrating encouraging preclinical efficacy, rely on transient messenger RNA (mRNA) delivery or viral vectors which both have limitations in terms of efficiency, durability, and scalability. To address these challenges, we developed a novel DNA-based targeted lipid nanoparticle (LNP) which we termed NCtx.
Minicircle DNA (mcDNA) encoding a CAR construct and SB100x transposase mRNA were encapsulated within a novel lipid formulation which was functionalized with T cell-specific anti-CD7 and anti-CD3 binders. In vitro, we evaluated T cell specificity, mcDNA and mRNA transfection efficiency, transposon-mediated CAR integration and functionality of the resulting CAR-T cells. In vivo efficacy was assessed in peripheral blood mononuclear cell and CD34+ stem cell humanized murine xenograft models of B cell leukemia.
In vitro, NCtx displayed high specificity and transfection efficiency with both mcDNA and mRNA in primary T cells. Transposase mRNA facilitated genomic integration of the CAR gene, leading to the generation of stable CAR-T cells that exhibited antigen-specific cytotoxicity and cytokine release. In vivo, a single intravenous dose of NCtx induced robust CAR-T cell generation resulting in effective tumor control and significantly improved survival in two distinct xenograft models.
Our findings demonstrate for the first time that targeted LNPs can be employed for efficient DNA delivery to T cells in vitro and in vivo. We show that when combined with transposase technology, this LNP-based system can efficiently generate stable CAR-T cells directly in vivo, inducing potent and durable antitumor responses. NCtx represents a novel non-viral gene therapy vector for in vivo CAR-T therapy, offering a scalable and potentially more accessible alternative to traditional approaches in CAR-T cell generation.
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2025. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ Group.

Treg play a deleterious role in the tumor microenvironment by suppressing anti-tumor effector T cells. Deletion of Treg can result in an enhanced anti-tumor response. It has been difficult to identify a cell surface antigen that is uniquely expressed on Treg which can be targeted by a deleting mAb. We immunized mice with human Treg cells which had been activated and expanded in vitro. One hybridoma (2B010) which recognized CD25 was identified. 2B010 demonstrated selective reactivity to Treg cells that had been expanded in culture for 5 days, but displayed similar reactivity to a conventional anti-CD25 mAb on freshly expanded Treg. 2B010 did not block the binding of IL-2 in the STAT5 phosphorylation assay and had no effect on the proliferation of Tconv or on Treg suppressor function. It selectively reacted with Treg activated in vivo during xeno-GVHD and produced a selective deletion of Treg from mice undergoing xeno-GVHD. Administration of 2B010 to tumor bearing humanized mice resulted in a profound depletion of Treg from the TME and activation of CD8+ T cells. No effect on tumor growth was observed. 2B010 represents a candidate for treatment of patients with cancer either alone or together with check point inhibitors.

Safety concerns about general anesthetics (GA), such as desflurane (a commonly used gaseous anesthetic agent), arose from studies documenting neural cell death and behavioral changes after early-life exposure to anesthetics and compounds with related modes of action. Neural stem cells (NSCs) can recapitulate most critical events during central nervous system (CNS) development in vivo and, therefore, represent a valuable in vitro model for evaluating potential desflurane-induced developmental neurotoxicity. In this study, NSCs harvested from the hippocampus of a gestational day 80 monkey brain were applied to explore the temporal relationships between desflurane exposures and neural stem cell health, proliferation, differentiation, and viability. At clinically relevant doses (5.7%), desflurane exposure did not result in significant changes in NSC viability [lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release] and NSC proliferation profile/rate by Cell Cycle Assay, in both short term (3 h) and prolonged (24 h) exposure groups. However, when monkey NSCs were guided to differentiate into neural cells (including neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes), and then exposed to desflurane (5.7%), no significant changes were detected in LDH release after a 3-h exposure, but a significant elevation in LDH release into the culture medium was observed after a 24-h exposure. Desflurane (24 h)-induced neural damage was further supported by increased expression levels of multiple cytokines, e.g., G-CSF, IL-12, IL-9, IL-10, and TNF-α compared with the controls. Additionally, our immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry data demonstrated a remarkable attenuation of differentiated neurons as evidenced by significantly decreased numbers of polysialic acid neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM)-positive cells in the desflurane-exposed (prolonged) cultures. Our data suggests that at the clinically relevant concentration, desflurane did not induce NSC damage/death, but impaired the differentiated neuronal cells after prolonged exposure. Collectively, PSA-NCAM could be essential for neuronal viability. Desflurane-induced neurotoxicity was primarily associated with the loss of differentiated neurons. Changes in the neuronal specific marker, PSA-NCAM, may help understand the underlying mechanisms associated with anesthetic-induced neuronal damage. These findings should be helpful/useful for the understanding of the diverse effects of desflurane exposure on the developing brain and could be used to optimize the usage of these agents in the pediatric setting.
Copyright © 2025 Wang, Latham, Liu, Talpos, Patterson, Hanig and Liu.