A case of Klinefelter syndrome with retroperitoneal teratoma

Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is often associated with various neoplasms, especially germ cell tumors. Mediastinum is the most favored site of extragonadal germ cell tumors with KS, which is somewhat different from those without KS. The retroperitoneal germ cell tumor in KS is very rare. A five-month-old boy with an abdominal mass was found to have a retroperitoneal tumor. After surgical removal, he was diagnosed to have mature cystic teratoma. Cytogenetic study of his peripheral lymphocytes revealed that his karyotype was consistent with KS. This case suggests that patients with KS might be at risk of having germ cell tumors in sites other than mediastinum. It also suggests that all cases with these tumors should be screened for the presence of karyotypic abnormalities, and it might help to assess the exact correlation between germ cell tumors and KS, and to treat them accordingly.     

Intrapulmonary cystic lymphangioma in a 2-month-old infant.

Lymphangioma is an abnormal collection of lymphatics that are developmentally isolated from the normal lymphatic system. Lymphangioma rarely presents as a solitary pulmonary lesion. We report a rare case of intrapulmonary cystic lymphangioma involving the upper lobe of the right lung, which presented with dyspnea in a 2-month-old infant. High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the chest demonstrated a well-circumscribed, multiseptate, cystic lesion in the upper lobe of the right lung, mimicking the feature of type I congenital cystic adenomatoid mal-formation. The tumor was removed by bilobectomy of the upper and middle lobes of the right lung, and its pathologic examination confirmed the diagnosis of an intra-pulmonary cystic lymphangioma.     

Effect of ketamine on apoptosis by energy deprivation in astroglioma cells using flow cytometry system

Apoptosis is a programmed, physiologic mode of cell death that plays an important role in tissue homeostasis. As for the central nervous system, ischemic insults can induce pathophysiologic cascade of apoptosis in neurophils. Impairment of astrocyte functions during brain ischemia can critically influence neuron survival by neuronglia interactions. We aimed to elucidate the protective effect of ketamine on apoptosis by energy deprivation in astrocytes. Ischemic insults was induced with iodoacetate/ carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (IAA/CCCP) 1.5 mM/20 microm or 150 microm/2 microm for 1 hr in the HTB-15 and CRL-1690 astrocytoma cells. Then these cells were reperfused with normal media or ketamine (0.1 mM) containing media for 1 hr or 24 hr. FITC-annexin-V staining and propidium iodide binding were determined by using flow cytometry. Cell size and granularity were measured by forward and side light scattering properties of flow cytometry system, respectively. An addition of ketamine during reperfusion increased the proportion of viable cells. Ketamine alleviated cell shrinkage and increased granularity during the early period, and ameliorated cell swelling during the late reperfusion period. Ketamine may have a valuable effect on amelioration of early and late apoptosis in the astrocytoma cells, even though the exact mechanism remains to be verified.     

APC I1307K and the E1317Q variants are not present in Chinese colorectal cancer patients.

PURPOSE: The APC I1307K and E1317Q variants predispose to colorectal adenomas and carcinomas in Caucasians, but data are lacking in Asians. METHODS AND RESULTS: We sequenced the APC gene from codons 1261 to 1409 and found none of 147 Chinese, 20 Malay, and 11 Indian colorectal cancer patients in Singapore to carry the APC I1307K or E1317Q variants. CONCLUSION: These variants are rare in these Asian populations, and play little role in colorectal cancer causation in Chinese.     

The Use of Lysostaphin in in Vitro Assays of Phagocyte Function: Adherence to and Penetration into Granulocytes

The usefulness of lysostaphin for the removal of cell-adherent and extracellular bacteria in assays performed to measure the intracellular killing of Straphylococcus aureus by granulocytes was investigated. The results showed that the adherence of lysosiaphin to the granulocyte surface is effectuated by a temperature-independent process and that bound lysostaphin is still microbicidal. Lysosiaphin also penetrates into the granulocytes by a temperature dependent process and kills ingested S. aureus intracellularly. Therefore, despite reports to the contrary in the literature, lysosiaphin is not a reliable agent for the removal of only extracellular S. aureus and should no longer be used in assays to determine the rate of intracellular killing by granulocytes.     

Induction of a TC1-mediated experimental autoimmune thyroiditis by deglycosylated porcine thyroglobulin

Contribution of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) to experimental autoimmune thyroiditis (EAT) was well defined (Speidel et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 1997, 27, 2391-2399, Ref. 7). The native porcine thyroglobulin (pTg) showed high sensitivity to endo-o-N-acetylglucosaminidase F (Endo F) and its molecular weights, corresponding to about 330 kDa as a monomer and 660 kDa as a dimer, were reduced to smaller molecular weight forms by Endo F and trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TMSF). Deglycosylated porcine Tg (dgpTg) and native pTg were injected i.v. into CBA/J mice, without the aid of adjuvants. Both lymphocytic infiltrations of the thyroid glands and levels of Tg-specific CTL were similar to those found in conventional EAT induced by Tg and adjuvants. In contrast, proliferative responses in native pTg and dgpTg-injected mice could not be detected, and titers of antibodies to pTg and dgpTg were 20 times and 30 times lower than that of pTg and adjuvants, respectively. The EAT-inducer CTL belonged to the CD8+ cell subset and exerted their thyroiditogenic potential through release of IFN-gamma. It was concluded that dgpTg-induced EAT is mediated by type 1 cytotoxic T cells (Tcl). Also, results that EAT induction of the glycosylated pTg (gpTg) was much lower than that of dgpTg, suggested that the abberant and incomplete glycosylation of the thyroglobulin is responsible for the induction of autoimmune thyroiditis.     

Use of an automated hematology analyzer and flow cytometry to assess bone marrow cellularity and differential cell count

The automated analysis of bone marrow aspirates was performed to estimate the bone marrow cellularity and differential cell count. Total nucleated cell count (TNC) was measured using an automated hematology analyzer. TNC of the bone marrow correlated well with the bone marrow cellularity estimated by microscopic examination (r = 0.590, p <0.001). The bone marrow cellularity was readily confirmed as <30%, from 30 to 70%, or >70% according to TNC. Differential count of bone marrow cells was done with the combination of CD45 monoclonal antibody and propidium iodide using flow cytometry. Excellent correlations were obtained for the population distributions of normoblasts, eosinophils, lymphocytes, and blasts between the results of flow cytometry and manual differential counts. The percentage of mature granulocytes in flow cytometry showed good correlation with the manual percentage of metamyelocytes + neutrophils. The percentage of immature granulocytes by flow cytometry showed good correlation with the manual percentage of blasts + promyelocytes + myelocytes. These results demonstrate that analysis of bone marrow aspirates using an automated hematology analyzer is valuable in the determination of bone marrow cellularity. Moreover, as flow cytometry provides objective findings for percentages of major cell populations, it can serve as a method to automate bone marrow differentials.