It has been shown that blockade of C5a or its receptor can inhibit the development of CLP. In this study, we used anti-C5a antibody to treat sepsis and found that anti-C5a effectively reduced CLP development by blocking the C5a effect. On the other hand, anti-C5a-treated septic mice demonstrated high levels of IL12 production in the peritoneal cavity. These results suggest that the production of IL-12 in the peritoneal cavity is negatively associated with the severity of sepsis. In the analysis of cell populations by flow cytometry, we found that IL-12 was mainly expressed by DC cells. Additionally, the DCdepleted mice demonstrated the lack of IL-12-expressing cells. These results suggest that DC cells present the main source of IL-12. Dendritic cells are the main APC and central components of host innate immune system. Furthermore, our study shows that DC-depletion exacerbated the septic process. There was an increase of percentage survival DCdepleted septic mice when exogenous IL-12 was administered. Previous publications have provide evidence that IL12 plays a major role in defense mechanisms against bacterial infection, and that deficiency of IL-12 decreases resistance to polymicrobial sepsis caused by CLP. Thymomas and thymic carcinomas are rare epithelial tumors arising from the thymus gland in the anterior mediastinum. The exact incidence of thymomas is not well documented, but estimated at 0?15/100,000 person-years. The rarity and morphological heterogeneity of these tumors have significantly contributed to difficulties in predicting the behaviour of these tumors. Recent studies have documented recurrences and metastasis in all types of thymomas, irrespective of subtype or resection status, highlighting the limitations of current assessment strategies. As a result, better tools are needed to predict the metastatic behavior of thymomas more accurately. Our prior gene expression microarray analysis identified a number of genes that could predict metastatic behavior in thymomas. Of note, these genes were not part of the proliferation metagene but had functions related to invasion. In this study, we report the development and validation of a nine-gene qRT-PCR assay that predicts the likelihood of metastasis using a relatively large multi-institutional series of thymomas. This assay categorizes patients into low and high risk and enables a novel biologic-based clinical approach for decision making in patients with this rare malignancy. Postoperative therapeutic management has predominantly been subjective and loosely based upon Masaoka stage, presence of residual disease, and, to a limited extent, WHO type. Recent studies have shown that all types of thymic tumors, regardless of histologic type or completeness of resection, can be associated with invasion, thoracic metastases, and extrathoracic metastases.