In one aspect, a method of treating a subject having or at risk of having graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) generally includes administering to the subject a plurality of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) effective to ameliorate at least one symptom or clinical sign of graft-versus-host disease compared to a suitable control subject. In another aspect, a method of treating a tumor in a subject generally includes administering to the subject an anti-tumor therapy and co-administering to the subject an inflammasome inciting agent in an amount effective to increase inflammasome activation of MDSCs sufficiently to reduce suppressor function of the MDSCs.

The present invention relates to methods for reducing or eliminating reactive T cells from a transplant or a part thereof prior to transplantation. The present invention also relates to methods for reducing immunogenicity in a transplant or a part thereof prior to transplantation. The present invention further relates to transplants obtained by the described methods and apoptotic agent treated transplants for use in reducing or preventing inflammatory conditions such as graft-versus-host disease. Specifically, the methods can be used to reduce graft versus host disease following transplantation.

Immune cells (Z cells) activated by zinc finger-like protein that regulates apoptosis (Zfra) and uses thereof in cancer treatment.

The present invention provides compositions and methods for inducing antigen-specific tolerance in a subject. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a composition comprising an apoptotic body and an epitope of an antigen. Also provided herein are methods of preparing and administering the composition. The composition and methods provided herein can induce antigen-specific tolerance in a subject.

An isolated cell having a central memory T-lymphocyte (Tcm) phenotype, the cell being tolerance-inducing cell and capable of homing to the lymph nodes following transplantation, the cell being transduced to express a cell surface receptor comprising a T cell receptor signaling module is described. Methods of generating same and using same are also described.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for immortalizing an antibody-producing cell; and an immortalized transformed cell obtained by the method. The invention relates to a method for producing an immortalized cell, the method including introducing SV40 T antigen gene, genes of Bcl-2 family, and one or more genes selected from the group consisting of genes of Myc family and genes of cyclin D family into a non-immortalized antibody-producing cell to produce an immortalized cell; and a method for producing an immortalized antibody-producing cell, the method including collecting an antibody-producing cell from a mammal and subjecting the cell to primary culture; and introducing one or more genes selected from the group consisting of SV40 T antigen gene, genes of Bcl-2 family, genes of Myc family, and genes of cyclin D family into a primary antibody-producing cell thus obtained to produce an immortalized antibody-producing cell.