Gene therapy for pituitary tumors

Pituitary tumors are the most common primary intracranial neoplasms. Although most pituitary tumors are considered typically benign, others can cause severe and progressive disease. The principal aims of pituitary tumor treatment are the elimination or reduction of the tumor mass, normalization of hormone secretion and preservation of remaining pituitary function. In spite of major advances in the therapy of pituitary tumors, for some of the most difficult tumors, current therapies that include medical, surgical and radiotherapeutic methods are often unsatisfactory and there is a need to develop new treatment strategies. Gene therapy, which uses nucleic acids as drugs, has emerged as an attractive therapeutic option for the treatment of pituitary tumors that do not respond to classical treatment strategies if the patients become intolerant to the therapy. The development of animal models for pituitary tumors and hormone hypersecretion has proven to be critical for the implementation of novel treatment strategies and gene therapy approaches. Preclinical trials using several gene therapy approaches for the treatment of anterior pituitary diseases have been successfully implemented. Several issues need to be addressed before clinical implementation becomes a reality, including the development of more effective and safer viral vectors, uncovering novel therapeutic targets and development of targeted expression of therapeutic transgenes. With the development of efficient gene delivery vectors allowing long-term transgene expression with minimal toxicity, gene therapy will become one of the most promising approaches for treating pituitary adenomas.     

兔骨髓基质细胞诱导成骨细胞复合同种异体生物衍生骨实验研究

目的探讨体外培养的骨髓基质细胞与自体来源的生物衍生骨复合后的生长特性，为进一步研究骨髓基质细胞作为种子细胞，以及探索一种良好的支架材料提供实验依据。方法分离纯化兔骨髓基质细胞并诱导成成骨细胞后与同种异体来源的生物衍生骨复合后体外培养，并在相差显微镜和扫描电镜下观察其生长情况。结果骨髓基质细胞在生物衍生骨上贴附生长、增殖良好。结论骨髓基质细胞可作为骨组织工程的理想种子细胞，与生物衍生骨复合后可作为骨组织工程的载体。     

KOCH三角的解剖

本实验解剖了110例人心标本(成人70、儿童40)的Koch三角区,观察和测量了房室结的形态、大小、毗邻和标志。房间隔及冠状窦口上、下方均有肌束连于房室结。Todaro腱在儿童多全部为腱性;在成人,其后部为肌性。三角区的深面为左、右心房壁和室间隔顶所构成的锥形间隙,其内为进入房室结区的血管和神经。根据构成不同,可将三角区分为5个区,即前上角的纤维支架区和房室结区,其余部分自上向下分别为房间隔区、右房壁区和室间隔区。本文还讨论了这些形态结构的功能及外科意义。     

API0134对大鼠血浆和血小板血栓素B2生成与血小板聚集的影响

用放射免疫分析法和比浊法测定ＰＡＩ０１３４对大鼠血浆血栓素Ｂ２浓度，血小板ＴＸＢ２生成血小板聚集的影响。静脉注射ＡＰＩ０１３４７０ｍｇ或１００ｍｇ．ｋｇ显著降低血浆ＴＸＢ２浓度，其降低２率分别为３８．８％和５１．６％，ＡＰＩ０１３４明显抑制ＡＤＰ诱导的大鼠血小板聚集和ＴＸＢ２生成，抑制率分别为２７．８％，３９．５％，和４１．４％，５３．６％，两抑制率间呈显著正相关。     

可切削渗透陶瓷玻璃料对不同堆积密度氧化铝基体的渗透

探讨了可切削渗透陶瓷 (Infiltration of Machinable- infiltrated- ceramic,MIC)渗透玻璃在不同堆积密度氧化铝基体中的渗透情况及渗透后复合体的颜色表达。在 110 0℃保温 2 h,将玻璃渗透到不同堆积密度的氧化铝基体中 ,分别测得其渗透深度和颜色参数。扫描电镜观察玻璃—氧化铝复合体断面。玻璃渗透深度的平方与氧化铝堆积密度有直线负相关关系 ,最小渗透深度为 3.0 92 m m。复合体的颜色系数与氧化铝堆积密度无相关性。渗透复合体在断裂过程中可见 :裂纹偏转、晶体拔出和穿晶断裂。本实验证实 MIC渗透玻璃的渗透性能达到临床要求。渗透后的复合体颜色稳定 ,强度可靠     

APOE is a potential modifier gene in an autosomal dominant form of frontotemporal dementia (IBMPFD).

PURPOSE: Inclusion-body myopathy, Paget's disease of bone and frontotemporal dementia is an adult-onset autosomal dominant illness (IBMPFD) caused by mutations in the valosin-containing protein (VCP) on chromosome 9p21.1-p12. The penetrance of the gene is 82% for myopathy, 49% for Paget's disease, but may be as low as 30% for frontotemporal dementia. Modifier genes could account for decreased frontotemporal dementia penetrance. In this study apolipoprotein-E (APOE) was evaluated for this role in IBMPFD families based on its known modifier effect in Alzheimer's disease. METHODS: From a database of 231 members of 15 families, 174 had APOE genotype available for analysis. Logistic regressions on APOE genotype and frontotemporal dementia were performed, using appropriate covariates. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: FTD was associated with APOE 4 genotype (P=0.0002), myopathy (P=0.0006), and age (P=0.01), but not microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT) H2 haplotype (P=0.5) or gender (0.09) after adjustment for membership in pedigrees with at least one APOE 4 genotype. These data suggest a potential link between APOE 4 genotype and the specific form of frontotemporal dementia found in IBMPFD. The molecular basis of this link bears further investigation. We did not observe an association of frontotemporal dementia and H2 MAPT haplotype.     

Characterization of erythromycin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in Korea, and In Vitro activity of telithromycin against erythromycin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae

To characterize the phenotypes and genotypes of erythromycin-resistant clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Korea and to evaluate the in vitro activity of telithromycin against these erythromycin-resistant isolates, we tested a total of 676 isolates of S. pneumoniae collected from 1997 to 2002 in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Republic of Korea. MICs for erythromycin and telithromycin were determined by the agar dilution method. The macrolide resistance phenotypes of erythromycin-resistant isolates were determined by the erythromycin- clindamycin-rokitamycin triple disk (ECRTD) and MIC induction tests, whereas their macrolide resistance genotypes were determined by PCR for the erm(B), erm(A), subclass erm(TR), and mef genes. To discriminate between mef(A) and mef(E), PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses were performed. Of the 676 S. pneumoniae isolates, 459 (67.9%) were resistant to erythromycin. Of the 459 erythromycin-resistant isolates, 343 (74.7%) were assigned to the cMLS phenotype, 48 (10.4%) to the iMcLS phenotype, 4 (0.9%) to the iMLS phenotype, and 64 (14.0%) to the M phenotype. The erm(B) gene was detected in 251 (54.6%) isolates, the mef gene was detected in 64 (14.0%), and both the erm(B) and mef genes were detected in 144 (31.4%) isolates. All of the mef genes detected were identified as mef(E). Of the 459 erythromycin- resistant isolates, all but one were susceptible to telithromycin. The MIC(50)/MIC(90) to telithromycin of isolates carrying erm(B), mef(E), and both genes was 0.06/0.5 microg/ml, 0.03/0.125 microg/ml, and 0.5/1.0 microg/ml, respectively. Although the MICs of telithromycin for the erythromycin-resistant isolates varied according to genotype, telithromycin was very active against these erythromycin-resistant S. pneumoniae.     

Activation of NR1a/NR2B receptors by soluble factors from APP-stimulated monocyte-derived macrophages: implications for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease

Amyloid-beta peptide (Abeta), the major component of amyloid plaques, can activate brain mononuclear phagocytes (MP; macrophages and microglia), leading to their secretion of neurotoxins. Recent studies strongly suggest that MP-mediated neurotoxicity plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To further explore this notion, human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) were stimulated with naturally secreted alpha-processing soluble amyloid precursor protein/p3 (alphaAPPs/p3) or beta-processing APP/Abeta (betaAPPs/Abeta). MDM conditioned media (MCM) was recovered and tested for its ability to activate recombinant N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subtype NR1a/NR2B expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Pressure ejection of alphaAPPs/p3- and betaAPPs/Abeta-stimulated MCM produced inward currents of 59.5 +/- 8.9 nA (mean +/- S.E.M., n = 31) and 111.1 +/- 21.0 nA (n = 42) in NR1a/NR2B-expressing oocytes, respectively. The MCM-induced currents were concentration dependent and blocked by 50 microM of the NMDA receptor antagonist 2-amino-5-phosphnovalerate, but not by a non-NMDA receptor antagonist 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (20 microM). The alphaAPPs/p3- and betaAPPs/Abeta-stimulated MCM placed in non-injected oocytes failed to generate inward current. These results demonstrate that APPs/Abeta-stimulated MCM directly activate NMDA receptor subtypes relevant in the pathogenesis of AD.