Repair of skin defect after extensive resection for penile cancer: report of two cases, and clinical observation of patients with penile cancer at Mie University hospital]

Case 1: A 48-year-old male with stage 4 penile cancer is reported. We used peplomycin (PEP) and cisplatinum (CDDP) for preoperative chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was effective. Radical surgery with bilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy was done and skin defect was covered with a skin flap. Case 2: A 61-year-old male with stage 4 penile cancer underwent radical surgery after modified MBD therapy with methotrexate (MTX), PEP and CDDP. Emasculation with skin resection and inguinal and pelvic lymphadenectomy were performed. The skin defect was deep and wide. It was covered with a glacilis myocutaneous skin flap. Distal end of the flap became necrotic. It was covered with tensor fascia lata myocutaneous flap. Seventeen patients with penile cancer were treated between 1972 and 1990 at Mie University Hospital. Nine patients were in stage 1, 4 stage 2, 1 stage 3, 3 stage 4. Treatment consisted of surgery (3), surgery+chemotherapy (10), surgery+chemotherapy+irradiation (2), chemotherapy+irradiation (1), and surgery+irradiation(1). Cancer death was observed in 2 cases (stage 2), 2 patients died of other diseases, 10 are alive, and 3 patients were lost to follow up.     

Conversion of pyridoxine into 6-hydroxypyridoxine by food components, especially ascorbic acid

In experiments designed to examine interactions between pyridoxine (PN) and food components, PN was found to be converted into an unidentified compound in the presence of the homogenates of various plant foods under mild conditions. The formation of the compound tended to be higher when food samples had a higher ascorbic acid (AsA) content. The reaction was neither thermal decomposition nor photodecomposition. This compound was also formed by incubating PN with AsA in the dark. Conversion of PN into the compound proceeded with oxidation of AsA, and was negligible under anaerobic conditions. The pH optimum for the reaction was between 4 and 7, and the temperature optimum was between 30 and 50 degrees C. The compound was purified by ion-exchange chromatography, isolated as colorless needles, and identified as 6-hydroxypyridoxine from UV, PMR, IR and MS spectral data. 6-Hydroxypyridoxine had neither vitamin B6 nor antivitamin B6 activity for Saccharomyces carlsbergensis 4228 (ATCC 9080). From these results, we inferred that hydroxylation of PN in the presence of food components, especially AsA, caused loss of vitamin B6 in plant foods during food processing, storage and cooking.     

Factors modifying the prognosis of Wilson's disease in childhood

The prognosis of Wilson's disease was investigated in 96 patients, in whom the disease had presented before 15 years of age and had begun between 1965 and 1983 (when D-penicillamine was widely available in Japan). In the activities of daily living, the prognosis was poor in those patients presenting with neurological symptoms. Interruption of D-penicillamine treatment was seen in one third of the patients, and it worsened the prognosis. Toxic side effects were seen in about half of the patients, being more frequent in the patients with initial neurological symptoms. A disappointing 17% of patients with slight or no side effects discontinued the drug. Death occurred in eight patients of whom seven had had initial hepatic symptoms. Not only early diagnosis and treatment before the appearance of hepatic failure or neurological symptoms, but also treatment throughout life without interruption is important for improving the prognosis of Wilson's disease.     

Induction and activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor by IL-4 in B cells

It is widely known that IL-4 and IL-13 act on various kinds of cells, including B cells, resulting in enhancement of proliferation, class switching to IgE and expression of several surface proteins. These functions are important for the recognition of the various antigens in B cells and are known to be involved in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases. However, it has not been known whether IL-4/IL-13 is involved in the metabolism of various kinds of xenobiotics including 2,3,7,8-tetra-chlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), and it remains undetermined whether TCDD, an environmental pollutant, influences IgE production in B cells, exaggerating allergic reactions. We identified IL-4- or IL-13-inducible genes in a human Burkitt lymphoma cell line, DND-39, using microarray technology, in which the AHR gene was included. The AHR gene product, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), was induced by IL-4 in both mouse and human B cells in a STAT6-dependent manner. IL-4 alone had the ability to translocate the induced AhR to the nuclei. TCDD, a ligand for AhR, rapidly degraded the induced AhR by the proteasomal pathway, although IL-4-activated AhR sustained its expression. AhR activated by IL-4 caused expression of a xenobiotic-metabolizing gene, CYP1A1, and TCDD synergistically acted on the induction of this gene by IL-4. However, the induction of AhR had no effect on IgE synthesis or CD23 expression. These results indicate that the metabolism of xenobiotics would be a novel biological function of IL-4 and IL-13 in B cells, whereas TCDD is not involved in IgE synthesis in B cells.     

The gene for prolactin-inducible protein (PIP), uniquely expressed in exocrine organs,maps to chromosome 7

The hormonally responsive prolactin-inducible protein (PIP), gene is expressed in benign and malignant breast tumor tissues and in such normal exocrine organs as sweat, salivary, and lacrimal glands. In this communication we report the regional chromosome localization of the PIPgene locus to chromosome 7 by Southern hybridization to DNA from human-hamster somatic cell hybrids, and to 7q32–36 by in situ hybridization.     

Recent advances in understanding how interleukin 13 signals are involved in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma

The prevalence of allergic disease has dramatically increased in recent decades, especially in urban and industrialized areas. Allergic diseases are disorders of the immune system, the results of complex interactions among various genetic and environmental factors. Among them, the important role of interleukin 13 (IL-13), a Th2-type cytokine, has recently emerged in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma. Based on studies using mice, great attention has been paid to the direct effects of IL-13 on bronchial tissues. In this review, we describe recent advances in understanding the signal transduction mechanism of IL-13, the involvement of IL-13 signal-related genes as genetic factors in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma, and the expression of IL-13 receptor on bronchial tissues. We describe potential strategies for targeting IL-13 signals to improve allergic states.     

Congenital infection by human cytomegalovirus with a 65 bp deletion in the morphological transforming region II

Summary Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is an important cause of neonatal death. Using primers derived from sequences within the morphological transforming region II (mtrII), HCMV DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from fixed tissues of infants who had died of congenital HCMV infection. In one neonate, HCMV DNA with reduction in the expected size was detected in the liver, spleen, kidney, adrenal, und thyroid tissues by gel electrophoresis. Nucleotide sequencing of the PCR product revealed a 65bp frame-shift deletion within the 79 amino acid open reading frame (ORF) of themtrII. Based upon this observation, it is likely that viral genomic rearrangement involving themtrII may occur in some cases of congenital HCMV infection.     

c-fos overexpression in splenic B cells augments development of marginal zone B cells

Marginal zone (MZ)-B cells participate in very early immune responses and play a pivotal role in the first-line of defense against blood-borne Ags including bacterial LPS. Since splenic B cells from c-fos transgenic (H2-c-fos) mice are hyper-sensitive to LPS stimulation, we examined LPS-sensitivity of MZ-B cells in the spleen of H2-c-fos mice. Here, we show that proliferation of MZ-B cells from H2-c-fos mice stimulated with LPS was larger than that from control mice. Proliferation and IgM production of the H2-c-fos MZ-B cells were also larger than those of splenic follicular (FO)-B cells from the H2-c-fos mice, suggesting that c-fos overexpression augments LPS-sensitivity of MZ-B cells more than that of FO-B cells. Furthermore, the number of MZ-B cells but not that of FO-B cells in the spleen of H2-c-fos mice was two- to three-fold larger than that in control littermates. The number of transitional type II (T2)-B cells in H2-c-fos mice was also larger than that of control littermates. However, the number of transitional type I (T1)-B cells in the spleen of H2-c-fos mice was not larger than that of control mice. Moreover, this c-fos effect on differentiation of MZ-B cells was intrinsic in B cells by the competitive repopulation assay with hematopoietic stem cells of H2-c-fos and control mice. These results suggest that c-fos overexpression in B cells augments differentiation and accumulation of MZ-B cells.