Defective apoptosis in lymphocytes and the role of IL-2 in autoimmune hematologic cytopenias

Fas-mediated signaling is important for lymphocyte elimination. We investigated lymphocytes for Fas-signaling defects in 20 pediatric patients with chronic hematologic autoimmunity. In 5 of 20 (25%), there was profound resistance to exogenous FasL-mediated lysis, Fas mAb, and anti-CD3. FasL function, though variable, was not significantly different from that of simultaneously evaluated controls. Only 1 patient had a Fas mutation and manifestations of autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome. In contrast, lymphocytes from his clinically normal mother with the same mutation were normally sensitive to FasL. In 3 patients, normal Fas-mediated lysis was restored with rhIL-2. IL-2 had no effect in the other 2 patients. Activation and proliferation functions of IL-2 were normal in all 5. We conclude that altered Fas signaling, independent of Fas mutations, can precipitate hematologic autoimmunity. IL-2 can rescue some lymphocytes from this defect. In IL-2 refractory cases, a persistently defective response to IL-2 continues to confer a lymphocyte survival advantage. Hence, altered Fas pathway signaling with or without defective IL-2 responses should be considered in the etiology of hematologic autoimmunity.     

Antigenic and immunologic characterization of an allogeneic colon carcinoma vaccine

In the present prospective, census-based study we have investigated the prevalence of organ-specific and non-organ-specific autoantibodies (AAb) in 152 unselected Cameroonians aged 60 years and older living in the community. AAb were detected in 49% of the participants. Non-organ-specific AAb (47%) predominated over organ-specific AAb (7%). Anti-TPO, anti-Tm, anti-Tg and anti-PC AAb were completely absent. RF was the most frequent AAb, being found in 57 (38%) cases. The prevalences of anti-SMA and RF were significantly higher in women than in men (respectively, P=0.023 and P=0.016). Higher serum concentrations of gammaglobulins were accompanied by a higher prevalence of RF (P < 0.0001) and a lower prevalence of ANA (P=0.036). The overall prevalence of AAb was higher in the filaria-infected (60%) compared to the non-infected (42%) participants (P=0.046). There was no significant influence of the vitamin D status, number of pregnancies, physical activity or medication use on the prevalence of AAb. In this study a heterogeneous pattern for the presence of the various AAb was found. Some AAb, which are commonly encountered in other studies on elderly subjects, were completely absent in this population. This diversified pattern of AAb prevalence therefore argues in favour of exogenous influences in the occurrence of AAb in elderly populations.     

Enhancement of amphetamine-induced locomotor response in rats on different regimens of diet restriction and 2-deoxy-D-glucose treatment

Diet restriction (DR) in rodents increases lifespan, reduces age-related disease and pathology, increases stress responses, and maintains better function later into life compared with conventional ad libitum (AL) feeding. We have been investigating different DR regimens and also DR mimetics that stimulate stress response pathways that are activated by DR. By inhibiting glycolysis, feeding or injection of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) has been proposed as a DR mimetic and has been shown to provide neuroprotection. In the current study, we examined whether 2DG treatment produces behavioral changes similar to those observed in DR rats following stimulation of the dopaminergic (DA) system by D-amphetamine (AMPH). Male Fischer 344 rats were maintained on different dietary regimens: 40% daily DR (40% DR); every-other-day feeding (EOD); or AL with some groups provided food containing 0.4% 2DG or injected i.p. with 2DG. In addition, we examined the persistence of effects of DR or 2DG feeding after switching rats to AL. When locomotor activity was assessed at different time points following initiation of dietary treatments, we noted that the enhancement of AMPH-induced locomotor responses emerged earlier in DR rats than observed in 2DG fed rats, but 40% DR and EOD rats responded in a similar manner. Enhanced locomotor responses persisted in 2DG fed rats even when returned to normal diet for 1 month and in the case of DR rats even after 2 months of AL feeding. Three weeks of 2DG injections also enhanced AMPH response, but this effect was transient. The most important finding was that 2DG did not affect body weight or diet intake yet had effects similar to DR. Thus, 2DG appears to activate DA pathways in the same direction as DR does but without the necessity of reducing caloric intake.     

Unrestricted principal components analysis of brain electrical activity: Issues of data dimensionality,artifact, and utility

Summary Principal components analysis (PCA) was performed on the 1536 spectral and 2944 evoked potential (EP) variables generated by neurophysiologic paradigms including flash VER, click AER, and eyes open and closed spectral EEG from 202 healthy subjects aged 30 to 80. In each case data dimensionality of 1500 to 3000 was substantially reduced using PCA by magnitudes of 20 to over 200. Just 20 PCA factors accounted for 70% to 85% of the variance. Visual inspection of the topographic distribution of factor loading scores revealed complex loadings across multiple data dimensions (time-space and frequency-space). Forty-two non-artifactual factors were successful in classifying age, gender, and a separate group of 60 demented patients by linear discriminant analysis. Discrimination of age and gender primarily involved EP derived factors, whereas dementia primarily involved EEG derived factors. Thirty-eight artifactual factors were identified which, alone, could not discriminate age but were relatively successful in discriminating gender and dementia. The need to parsimoniously develop real neurophysiologic measures and to objectively exclude artifact are discussed. Unrestricted PCA is suggested as a step in this direction.Acknowledgements: This work was supported in part by NIA program project PO1AG049853 to M. Albert and the Mental Retardation Program Project P30HD18655 to J.J. Volpe. We thank our qEEG technologists Adele Mirabella, Susan Katz, Ellen Belles, and Marianne McGaffigan as well as our research secretaries for their unflagging support.     

Recalcified plasma as nutrient additive in mixed lymphocyte culture

Animal or human blood protein is a costly but necessary additive to tissue culture. This supplemental protein is provided by the addition of pooled serum or heparinized plasma to standard tissue culture media. Many blood centers store CPDA-1 anticoagulated plasma, a form that does not provide optimal support of mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC). The optimal amount of CaCl2 (1 ml of 1 M CaCl2/100 g) added to citrate plasma and the use of glass vessels result in a completely clotted product that is comparable in MLC support to commercially available pooled human serum. Laboratories that have access to CPDA-1 plasma can replace the growing demand for serum with recalcified plasma without sacrificing quality.     

Phenylethylidenehydrazine, a novel GABA-transaminase inhibitor, reduces epileptiform activity in rat hippocampal slices

Phenylethylidenehydrazine (PEH), an analog of the monoamine oxidase inhibitor, beta-phenylethylhydrazine (phenelzine), inhibits the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) catabolic enzyme GABA-transaminase and increases brain levels of GABA. GABA is the predominant fast inhibitory transmitter counteracting glutamatergic excitation, and increased neural GABA could influence a wide range of synaptic and circuit properties under both physiologic and pathophysiologic conditions. To examine the scope of these effects, we applied PEH (or vehicle) to rat hippocampal slices and measured basal glutamatergic transmission, synaptic plasticity, and epileptiform activity using extracellular field and whole cell patch clamp recordings. In vitro pre-treatment with PEH (100 microM) increased the GABA content of hippocampal slices by approximately 60% over vehicle-treated controls, but it had no effect on basal field excitatory postsynaptic potentials, tonic GABA currents, paired-pulse facilitation, or long-term potentiation. In contrast, pre-incubation with PEH caused a dose- and time-dependent reduction in epileptiform burst frequency induced by superfusion with Mg2+-free or high-K+ artificial cerebrospinal fluid. Thus, the inhibitory effects of PEH are state-dependent: hyper-excitation during epileptiform bursting was reduced, whereas synaptic transmission and plasticity were unaffected.     

Dizygotic twinning is not associated with methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase haplotypes

BACKGROUND: Folate metabolism is critical to embryonic development, influencing neural tube defects (NTD) and recurrent early pregnancy loss. Polymorphisms in 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) have been associated with dizygotic (DZ) twinning through pregnancy loss. METHODS: The C677T and A1298C polymorphisms in MTHFR were genotyped in 258 Australasian families (1016 individuals) and 118 Dutch families (462 individuals) of mothers of DZ twins and a population sample of 462 adolescent twin families (1861 individuals). Haplotypes were constructed from the alleles, and transmission of the MTHFR haplotypes to mothers of DZ twins and from parents to twins in the adolescent twin families analysed. RESULTS: The C677T and A1298C were common in all three populations (frequencies > 0.29). There was strong linkage disequilibrium (D' = 1) between the variants, showing that specific combinations of alleles (haplotypes) were transmitted together. Three haplotypes accounted for nearly all the variation. There was no evidence of any association between MTHFR genotype and twinning in mothers of twins, or of the loss of specific MTHFR genotypes during twin pregnancies. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that variation in twinning frequency is not associated with MTHFR genotype.     

Identification and characterization of aquaporin-2 water channel mutations causing nephrogenic diabetes insipidus with partial vasopressin response

Congenital nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) is a rare disease caused most often by mutations in the vasopressin V2 receptor (AVPR2). We studied a family which included a female patient with NDI with symptoms dating from infancy. The patient responded to large doses of desmopressin (dDAVP) which decreased urine volume from 10 to 4 I/day. Neither the parents nor the three sisters were polyuric. The patient was found to be a compound heterozygote for two novel recessive point mutations in the aquaporin-2 (AQP2) gene: L22V in exon 1 and C181W in exon 3. Residue Cys181 in AQP2 is the site for inhibition of water permeation by mercurial compounds and is located near to the NPA motif conserved in all aquaporins. Osmotic water permeability (Pf) in Xenopus oocytes injected with cRNA encoding C181W-AQP2 was not increased over water control, while expression of L22V cRNA increased the Pf to approximately 60% of that for wild-type AQP2. Co-injection of the mutant cRNAs with the wild-type cRNA did not affect the function of the wild-type AQP2. Immunolocalization of AQP2-transfected CHO cells showed that the C181W mutant had an endoplasmic reticulum-like intracellular distribution, whereas L22V and wild-type AQP2 showed endosome and plasma membrane staining. Water permeability assays showed a high Pf in cells expressing wild-type and L22V AQP2. This study indicates that AQP2 mutations can confer partially responsive NDI.      

The perception of problem drinkers by general hospital staff, general practitioners and alcoholic patients

A sample of 275 subjects (general hospital staff, general practitioners and alcoholic patients) was investigated regarding their perception of problem-drinkers. A set of semantic differential scales was used, and subjects were asked to evaluate the concepts of "problem drinker," "self" and "ideal self." Psychological distance was measured in terms of bipolar personality constructs between each of the above concepts. Significant differences were found between the groups in terms of concept evaluation and psychological distance. The implications of these findings for both research and treatment are discussed.