BRONCHIAL PLASMACYTOMA IDENTIFIED BY IMMUNOPEROXIDASE TECHNIQUE ON PARAFFIN EMBEDDED SECTION

A case of bronchial plasmacytoma occurring in a 57- year-old housewife is reported. She had had the productive cough and the "abnormal shadow" in the right lower lobe for three years before admission. On bronchocopy, a tumor was found in the right main bronchus, large enough to obstruct the air way. The tumor was resected through rigid bronchoscope. Histological impression was "plasmacytoma with local amyloid deposit." M-protein was never detected in the serum or urine. Applying the immunoperoxidase technique for the paraffin section, the plasma cells were found to contain only a single type of immunoglobulin, Ig G-L. The differential diagnosis between plasmacytoma and plasma cell granuloma was made, and plasmacytoma was considered to be one type of extranodal malignant lymphoma.     

Experimental osteodystrophy of chronic renal failure induced by aluminum- and ferric-nitrilotriacetate in Wistar rats

The aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) chelate complexes of nitrilotriacetate (NTA) cause renal insufficiency when they are administered intraperitoneally to rats. Their effects on bone metabolism were studied in 4 week old Wistar rats. Daily intraperitoneal administration of Al-NTA (3 mg Al/kg for 11 weeks) induced osteomalacia, impaired bone growth, decreased bone mineral density, lower serum PTH levels than normal as well as renal insufficiency. Al staining showed diffuse deposition in the trabecula and a strong linear band of aluminum deposited at the mineralization front and along the cement line. The osteoid seen markedly within the trabecula was probably the decalcified portion of the bone, the calcium apatite of which was defectively fabricated because of diffuse Al deposition in the trabecula. Al deposition along the cement line would make it much more susceptible to external shear stress than normal. Although daily intraperitoneal administration of Fe-NTA (6 mg Fe/kg for 11 weeks) caused impaired bone growth, decreased bone mineral content and renal insufficiency, the osteoid volume did not increase. Fe staining showed that Fe was deposited diffusely in the cytoplasm of osteoblasts. The results of this study demonstrated that during renal insufficiency, different minerals exhibi different modes of action on bone metabolism, and that AI-NTA is useful for experimental animal models of Al-induced osteomalacia in renal insufficiency.     

Favourable associations between the myosin heavy-chain and light-chain isoforms in human skeletal muscle

Histochemical and biochemical analyses were performed in order to examine the relationship between myosin light-chain (LC) isoforms and fibre-type distributions in whole human skeletal muscle. Muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis muscle in six healthy men, and analysed for the relative area occupied by each fibre type (percentage of fibre type area) and the molar ratio of each LC isoform. The percentage of type I fibre area was positively correlated with the molar ratio of slow LC (LC1s and LC2s) to total LC. The regression line was located below the line of unity. Also, the ratio of percentage of type II fibre area to that of type II fibre area was positively correlated with the molar ratio of the fast alkali LC LC1f to fast alkali LCs LC1f and LC3f. These results support previous study, having shown that in human skeletal muscle some type I fibres express various amounts of fast LC in addition to slow LC and suggest that fast myosin heavy-chain HCII a is favourably associated with LC1f, whereas HCIIb is favourably associated with LC3f.     

Primary renal angiosarcoma: A case report and review of the literature

Primary renal angiosarcoma is very rare. To our knowledge, only 15 cases have been reported to date. A 77-year-old Japanese man with a unilateral kidney presented with massive hematuria followed by renal failure. A renal tumor was suspected and a left nephrectomy was performed. The histopathological diagnosis was angiosarcoma of the kidney. A hemorrhagic tumor measuring 10 × 5 cm and clotted blood was found in the modularly area. The atypical tumor cells had a sinusoidal and solid appearance, and showed Immunohistochemically positive reactions for some of the endothelial markers. The patient died about 21 months after the nephrectomy and the autopsy revealed massive metastases to the liver and retroperitoneum. One of the differential diagnoses of the case was anglomyolipoma, because the tumor cells were relatively bland in their histological appearance with entrapped fat cells in the pelvic area. Fifteen case reports with titles that included the term 'hemangiosarcoma/anglosarcoma', 'hemangioendothelloma/endothelloma' or 'vascular sarcoma' of the kidney were reviewed and compared to the present case.     

Neural cell adhesion molecule contributes to hemopoiesis-supporting capacity of stromal cell lines

To clarify mechanisms underlying cell-to-cell interactions between hemopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and stromal cells, we established a stromal cell line (FMS/PA6-P) from day-16 fetal bone marrow (BM) adherent cells using an anti-PA6 monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific for BM stromal cells. Importantly, this FMS/PA6-P cell line, showing homogenous fibroblastic morphology, is absent from hematolymphoid and endothelial lineage markers and maintains a high level of expression of PA6 molecule, recognized by the anti-PA6 mAb, for approximately 20 passages. Further, the cell line expressing a high level of PA6 molecule has a better hemopoiesis-supporting capacity in vitro than other stromal cell lines such as PA6 and MS-5. In fact, the PA6 molecule is closely related to the hemopoiesis-supporting capacity of the stromal cells because the proliferation of HSCs was suppressed to a great extent by the anti-PA6 mAb. Affinity chromatography and mass peptide fingerprinting revealed that the protein reacting with the anti-PA6 mAb is neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM). The frequencies of long-term cobblestone area-forming cells and long-term culture-initiating cells were significantly suppressed by repression of NCAM in the FMS/PA6-P cells using NCAM small interfering RNA. Our findings clearly indicate that NCAM functions on the maintenance of HSCs.     

Synthesis of antitumor-active conjugates of adriamycin or daunomycin with the copolymer of divinyl ether and maleic anhydride

Polymeric conjugates of adriamycin (ADR) ( 2 ) or daunomycin (DM) ( 3 ) were synthesized by reaction of the drugs with the copolymer of divinyl ether and maleic anyhdride (DIVEMA) ( 1 ). The content of ADR moieties in the DIVEMA conjugate ( 4 ) could be varied depending on the reaction conditions up to 35,8 wt.-%. Considering the low toxicity and the high possibility of renal excretion, DIVEMA with M?_w of 7000 and M?_w/M?_n = 1,6 was used for the conjugation. The rate of drug release from the conjugate was determined under physiological conditions by reversed phase HPLC. Within 14 days only 15% of the attached ADR was released from conjugate 4 . The antitumor activity of the conjugates was tested in vitro and in vivo against mouse P388 leukemia. Conjugate 4 proved to be 28 times less active than ADR in vitro, which could be explained from the slow drug-release. On the contrary 50% of the leukemic mice treated by 4 survived more than 60 days, whereas no mice given ADR alone or the admixture of ADR and DIVEMA survived 30 days. An antitumor activity of the polymeric conjugate better than that of the free drug was also observed in vivo with DM. Such a polymeric effect can be attributed either to the change in body distribution, the difference in pharmacokinetics, or the slow drugrelease.     

Immunohistochemical detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in the setting of ongoing necrosis after radiofrequency ablation.

After radiofrequency ablation (RFA), hepatocellular carcinoma undergoes complete necrosis and an ongoing necrosis that is irreversible and characterized histologically by disrupted cell outlines, homogenous cytoplasmic eosinophilia, and preserved nuclear staining, with the cells appearing quite distinct from viable cancer cells. Antibody to detect single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) specifically labeled nuclei in the setting of ongoing necrosis, but not viable tumor cells, whereas human mitochondrial antibody labeled the cytoplasm of viable cells but not cells of ongoing necrosis. The results demonstrate that RFA causes denaturation of both DNA and proteins and that the immunohistochemistry of ssDNA and mitochondrial protein is useful in detection of ongoing necrosis after RFA and provides pathological information on the validity of this procedure.     

Acute hepatic failure in IFN-gamma-deficient BALB/c mice after murine coronavirus infection

We previously showed that an intraperitoneal infection with mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) persists in interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma)-deficient C57BL/6 (B6-GKO) mice and results in subacute fatal peritonitis, which bears a resemblance to feline infectious peritonitis. To examine the role of other host factors in MHV infection in mice, IFN-gamma-deficient mice with a BALB/c background (BALB-GKO) were infected intraperitoneally with MHV and compared with B6-GKO mice. In contrast to B6-GKO mice, BALB-GKO mice died within 1 week due to acute hepatic failure. The viral titer of the liver in BALB-GKO mice was significantly higher than that in B6-GKO mice. All hepatocytes in BALB-GKO mice were necrotic at 5 days post-infection, which was clearly distinct from large but limited lesion in the liver from infected B6-GKO mice. The serum alanine aminotransferase activity of infected BALB-GKO mice were higher than that of B6-GKO mice and was paralleled with the severity of the pathological changes and viral titers in infected mice. Administration of exogenous IFN-gamma to BALB-GKO partially inhibited the acute death. These results indicate that BALB-GKO and B6-GKO mice clearly show different diseases following MHV infection, although wild type counterparts of both mice apparently showed the same clinical course after MHV infection.