Second malignancy risk associated with treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma: meta-analysis of the randomised trials.

BACKGROUND: Despite several investigations, second malignancy risks (SMR) following radiotherapy alone (RT), chemotherapy alone (CT) and combined chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) remain controversial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We sought individual patient data from randomised trials comparing RT versus CRT, CT versus CRT, RT versus CT or involved-field (IF) versus extended-field (EF) RT for untreated HL. Overall SMR (including effects of salvage treatment) were compared using Peto's method. RESULTS: Data for between 53% and 69% of patients were obtained for the four comparisons. (i) RT versus CRT (15 trials, 3343 patients): SMR were lower with CRT than with RT as initial treatment (odds ratio (OR) = 0.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.62-0.98 and P = 0.03). (ii) CT versus CRT (16 trials, 2861 patients): SMR were marginally higher with CRT than with CT as initial treatment (OR = 1.38, CI 1.00-1.89 and P = 0.05). (iii) IF-RT versus EF-RT (19 trials, 3221 patients): no significant difference in SMR (P = 0.28) although more breast cancers occurred with EF-RT (P = 0.04 and OR = 3.25). CONCLUSIONS: Administration of CT in addition to RT as initial therapy for HL decreases overall SMR by reducing relapse and need for salvage therapy. Administration of RT additional to CT marginally increases overall SMR in advanced stages. Breast cancer risk (but not SMR in general) was substantially higher after EF-RT. Caution is needed in applying these findings to current therapies.     

丰富环境刺激对缺氧缺血性脑损伤大鼠脑超微结构改变及神经丝蛋白表达的影响

目的:观察丰富环境刺激对缺氧缺血性脑损伤大鼠脑超微结构及神经丝蛋白(NF)的影响。方法:实验于2005-03/2006-06在新桥医院中心实验室完成。取7日龄健康SD大鼠52只随机分为3组:①丰富环境干预组:20只,采用Rice法建立缺氧缺血性脑损伤模型,予早期抚触(15min/次,2次/d)和丰富环境(2h/次,1次/d)刺激共28d。②缺氧缺血非干预组:20只,同前造模,造模后不干预。③正常对照组:12只,不造模,不干预。饲养至1月龄时各组随机选10只进行Morris水迷宫测试学习记忆功能;行为学测定后处死大鼠取脑,免疫组织化学方法观察海马神经丝蛋白的染色情况,借助自动图像分析系统对其进行定量分析;利用透射电镜观察海马神经元超微结构、神经丝蛋白及突触情况。结果:52只进入结果分析。①隐匿平台逃避潜伏期(学习能力):缺氧缺血非干预组较正常对照组明显延长[(39.98±7.86),(26.12±4.03)s,P<0.001],丰富环境干预组较缺氧缺血非干预组缩短[(29.06±5.11)s,P<0.01],与正常对照组无差异。②跨越平台次数(记忆能力):缺氧缺血非干预组明显少于正常对照组[(2.13±1.33),(4.91±2.01)次,P<0.001],丰富环境干预组多于缺氧缺血非干预组[(4.45±1.59)次,P<0.01],与正常对照组无差异。③缺氧缺血非干预组左侧与右侧脑组织NF-H积分吸光度值之比值明显小于正常对照组和丰富环境干预组(0.398±0.110,0.975±0.011,0.821±0.138,P<0.01),后2组比较无差异。④超微结构显示缺氧缺血非干预组海马神经细胞固缩改变,线粒体肿胀,神经丝数量减少,排列稀疏,突触数量减少;丰富环境干预组海马神经元和突触无明显异常。结论:早期抚触及丰富环境刺激可以促进缺血缺氧的脑损伤恢复,脑组织神经网络重建及脑的可塑性增加是其可能的机制之一。     

Purification and properties of M protein extracted from group A streptococci with pepsin: covalent structure of the amino terminal region of type 24 M antigen

M protein was extracted from type 24, group A streptococci with pepsin at pH 5.8 and was further purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, ribonuclease digestion, ion-exchange chromatography, and isoelectric focusing. The purified pepsin extract of M (pep M) protein was shown to be free of nontype-specific immunoreactivity in (a) complement fixation tests with heterologous M antiserum, (b) skin tests in normal adult guinea pigs, and (c) passive hemagglutination tests for the presence of lipoteichoic acid sensitizing or antigenic activity. The pep M24 was highly immunogenic; two of three rabbits developed opsonic antibody titers of 1:256 and the third a titer of 1:32 6 wk after a single injection of 100-pg doses of pep M24 emulsified in complete Freund's adjuvant. The antisera lacked nontype-specific antibodies and produced single precipitin lines in agar gel diffusion tests against crude HC1 extracts of the homologous M protein. Thus, the type-specific antigenic determinant(s) of type 24 M protein appears to be separable from immunotoxic, cross-reactive antigens without loss of immunogenicity in rabbits. The mobility of pep M24 upon electrophoresis in 10 percent sodium dodecyl sulfate pelyacrylamide gel was consistent with an average mol wt of 33,500 daltons. Amino acid analysis demonstrated a predominance of alanine, followed by glutamic acid, lysine, leucine, and aspartic acid. Pep M24 contained an estimated six to seven methionine residues and approximately ten phenylalanine residues per molecule. No other aromatic amino acids were detected. Automatic Edman degradation of pep M24 yielded the sequence of the first 29 amino acids (the amino terminal amino acid being valine) of the amino terminal region of the molecule. The detection of only one new amino acid at each step of Edman degradation confirmed the homogeneity of the purified pep M24.     

In-vitro modulation of plasminogen activator activity, prostaglandin E and nitric oxide production by interleukin-1 in pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin-primed theca-interstitial cells

To examine the participation of the theca-interstitial (TI) compartment in cytokine modulation of ovarian function, the effects of interleukin- 1beta (IL-1) on plasminogen activator (PA) activity and on prostaglandin E (PGE) and nitric oxide (NO) production were examined in cultures of pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin (PMSG)-primed rat TI cells. Exposure to IL-1 (10 ng/ml) resulted in a 25% reduction (P < 0.001) in PA activity, concurrent with a 4.6-fold increase in the ability of the corresponding conditioned media to inhibit exogenous urokinase activity. IL-1 also produced a 4.7-fold increase in PGE content and a 2.8-fold increase in NO generation. These effects of IL-1 were abolished by the IL-1 receptor antagonist, suggesting specific IL- 1 receptor-mediated effects. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 (10 ng/ml) significantly attenuated the IL-1-stimulated PGE production and NO generation but did not affect the ability of IL-1 to suppress PA activity and stimulate urokinase inhibitor production. The NO synthase inhibitor N-nitro-L-arginine attenuated the IL-1-induced NO generation but had no effect on PA activity or PGE production. Thus, NO is not an obligatory mediator of IL-1 effects on plasminogen activation and PGE generation in rat ovary. The present observations attest to a pleiotropic response of PMSG-primed TI cells to IL-1, and suggest a paracrine/autocrine function for the TI compartment in ovulation and corpus luteum formation.      

Neural stem cells – a versatile tool for cell replacement and gene therapy in the central nervous system

In recent years, it has become evident that the developing and even the adult mammalian central nervous system contains a population of undifferentiated, multipotent cell precursors, neural stem cells, the plastic properties of which might be of advantage for the design of more effective therapies for many neurological diseases. This article reviews the recent progress in establishing rodent and human clonal neural stem cell lines, their biological properties, and how these cells can be utilized to a correct variety of defects, with prospects for the near future to harness their behaviour for neural stem cell-based treatment of diseases in humans.     

Reduced infectivity of Nematospiroides dubius larvae after incubation in vitro with neutrophils or eosinophils from infected mice and a lack of effect by neutrophils from normal mice

Summary Neutrophils and eosinophils, isolated from the blood of mice infected with Nematospiroides dubius , were tested for their capacity to damage exsheathed third stage N. dubius larvae in vitro. In the presence of fresh serum from infected mice, both types of granulocyte caused a significant reduction in larval infectivity (up to 40–50%) whereas lymphocytes/monocytes prepared from the same blood samples were inactive. Neutrophils were at least as active as eosinophils, on a cell for cell basis. None of the cells exhibited larvicidal activity in the absence of serum and serum alone had no effect. The reduction in larval infectivity caused by neutrophils in the presence of fresh normal mouse serum (NMS) was only marginally less than that obtained using immune mouse serum (IMS), suggesting that complement, which is activated by the larvae via the alternative pathway and mediates the adherence of both cell types, was able to promote the larvicidal effect of these cells in vitro. In contrast to neutrophils, eosinophils were considerably less effective in NMS than in IMS. Both NMS and IMS were ineffective if they had been heat-inactivated or incubated with methylamine at pH 8.0 to destroy complement activity. The immunoglobulin fraction of IMS was also ineffective in promoting neutrophil or eosinophil-mediated larval damage. These results indicate that in this in vitro system antibodies are incapable of directing the activity of either cell type in the absence of complement. A novel finding of this study was that neutrophils from uninfected mice were unable to reduce larval infectivity in the presence of fresh NMS or IMS. 'Altered' neutrophils possessing larvicidal activity appeared in the blood of mice within 4 days of infection with N. dubius.