The salivary microbiota as a diagnostic indicator of oral cancer: A descriptive,non-randomized study of cancer-free and oral squamous cell carcinoma subjects

Background  

The purpose of the present investigation was to determine if the salivary counts of 40 common oral bacteria in subjects with an oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) lesion would differ from those found in cancer-free (OSCC-free) controls.     

Inhibition of HIV-1 infection by monoclonal antibodies to carbohydrates of Schistosoma mansoni

Patients infected with HIV-1 develop a potent humoral immune response against the virus, but HIV-1 primary isolates are remarkably resistant to neutralizing antibodies. Considering that the envelope glycoprotein of HIV-1 (gp120/41) is heavily glycosylated, we investigated whether anti-carbohydrate antibodies could inhibit HIV-1 infection in vitro. We studied the neutralizing activity of three monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) raised to carbohydrates of Schistosoma mansoni, against seven primary isolates of HIV-1. Assays were performed infecting peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal donors with viral isolates previously treated with mAbs. Viral strains used were tropic for the coreceptors CCR5, CXCR4, and dual-tropic ones. We found that the anti-glycan mAbs vigorously inhibited HIV-1 infection, regardless of the preferential coreceptor usage of the isolate, in a dose-response manner. Importantly, five isolates were resistant to neutralization by two HIV-1 antibody-positive human sera endowed with potent anti-HIV-1 inhibitory activity. Our findings suggest that carbohydrates of the HIV-1 viral envelope may be a target of an effective humoral immune response elicited by vaccination.The first two authors contributed equally to this work     

Association between variation in the vesicular monoamine transporter 1 gene on chromosome 8p and anxiety-related personality traits

Vesicular monoamine transporters are involved in the presynaptic packaging of norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin into storage vesicles. The vesicles release their content upon arrival of an action potential into the synaptic cleft. Dysregulation of monoaminergic neurotransmission has been long postulated to play a relevant role in the etiology of neuropsychiatric disorders. The gene encoding the vesicular monoamine transporter 1 (VMAT1/SLC18A1) maps to chromosome 8p21, a region where several linkage peaks overlap between schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and anxiety-related personality traits. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the missence variation Thr136Ile in the VMAT1/SLC18A1 gene is associated with anxiety-related personality traits. We tested a total of 337 unrelated subjects of German descent (167 male, 170 female). All participants were carefully screened for psychiatric disorders. The self-report State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was completed by all subjects. Genotypes were obtained for the Thr136Ile (rs1390938) variation in the VMAT1 gene for all subjects. Genotype effects on personality variables were computed with MANOVA including age as a co-variant and gender as independent factor (MANCOVA). Results show that STAI scores were significantly affected by genotype (F = 3.108; d.f. = 4,331; p = 0.015) and age (F = 7.233; d.f. = 2,331; p = 0.001) but not by gender. A gender-by-genotype effect was observed for both the STAI state (p = 0.052) and trait score (p = 0.035). Dissection of the group by gender and subsequent contrast analysis of the genotype effects performed within the female group showed significant results (STAI state: Thr/Ile vs. Ile/Ile: T = 4.408, p = 0.0004; STAI trait: Thr/Ile vs. Ile/Ile: T = 3.074, p = 0.009) but not in the male group. Our findings support the hypothesis that anxiety-related personality traits are associated with variation in the VMAT1/SLC18A1 gene.     

Anti-endothelial cell antibodies in patients with Wegener's granulomatosis and micropolyarteritis

Anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA) have been detected by cell surface radioimmunoassay in nine out of 15 patients with micropolyarteritis (MPA) and in two out of five patients with Wegener's granulomatosis. AECA mostly belonged to the IgG isotype and were present in the active phase of the diseases. These antibodies were not detectable in 10 sera from patients with essential mixed cryoglobulinaemia, suggesting that they were not a mere epiphenomenon consequent to the inflammatory vascular injury. The binding activity was not related to ABH antigens or to HLA class I antigens displayed by resting human endothelial cells in culture and was not influenced by removing immune complexes. Absorption of the anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA), present in MPA and Wegener's granulomatosis sera, did not affect the endothelial binding. AECA-positive sera did not display lytic activity against endothelial cells, neither alone nor after addition of fresh complement or normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Although AECA are not cytolytic for endothelial cell monolayers in vitro, the reactivity against intact endothelial cells suggests their possible involvement in in vivo pathological processes affecting vascular structures in small vessel primary vasculitides.     

Presumptive identification of "Streptococcus milleri" in 5 h

Rapid miniaturized tests for acetoin production, arginine hydrolysis, and sorbitol fermentation were used for presumptive identification of non-beta-hemolytic "Streptococcus milleri" isolates in 5 h. All 77 "S. milleri" strains tested were Voges-Proskauer positive, arginine hydrolysis positive, and sorbitol fermentation negative. On the basis of these reactions, "S. milleri" was differentiated from isolates of other viridans group streptococcal species and from Streptococcus bovis.     

Involvement of cholecystokinin receptors in the control of striatal dopamine autoreceptors

Summary The interaction of locally perfused cholecystokinin-8 (sulphated) with systemically administered apomorphine was studied on the release of dopamine and its metabolites using microdialysis in the neostriatum of the halothane-anaesthetized male rat. Dialysate levels of dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid were assayed by high performance liquid chromatography in combination with electrochemical detection. Perfusion with cholecystokinin-8 (100 M but not 1 M or 10 nM) increased the dialysate levels of dopamine without affecting those of DOPAC or HVA. At low concentrations (1 M and 10 nM but not 1 nM), cholecystokinin-8 counteracted the inhibitory effect of apomorphine (0.05 mg/kg, s. c.) on dopamine release. This counteraction was antagonized by perfusion with the cholecystokinin-8 antagonist proglumide (3 M). At this concentration, proglumide perfused alone was without effect on basal or apomorphine-reduced levels of dopamine. The results indicate a facilitatory effect of cholecystokinin-8 on dopamine release in rat neostriatum only at high concentrations. At lower concentrations, cholecystokinin-8 appears to modulate dopamine release by an inhibitory effect on dopamine autoreceptors possibly involving an intramembrane interaction between presynaptic cholecystokinin-8 receptors and dopamine autoreceptors. Send offprint requests to K. Fuxe at the above address     

Toxic cardiogenic shock in a patient receiving weekly 24-h infusion of high-dose 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin

A 54-year-old man was treated with weekly 24-h infusion of high-dose 5-fluorouracil (2600 mg/m2) and leucovorin (100 mg/m2) for metastatic colon cancer. At first, he tolerated the treatment well and no significant toxicity was identified. After a total of eight courses of treatment, a stable disease was observed, but mild shortness of breath was found on occasion. The patient had no previous history of cardiac disease and the heart performance assessed by left ventricular ejection fraction before treatment was normal. Unfortunately, acute pulmonary edema with lethal cardiogenic shock occurred during the ninth course of treatment, in spite of intensive medical treatment. The chest X-ray showed extreme cardiomegaly. Repeated assessment of his heart function by echocardiogram and ventricular ejection fraction revealed a very poor cardiac performance. Toxic cardiogenic shock during weekly 24-h infusion of high-dose 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin is extremely rare. To the best of our knowledge, no case has been reported in the English literature. We report a case and the relevant literature about the incidence, clinical picture and possible pathophysiology on 5-fluorouracil-related cardioxicity is reviewed.