Clinical Evaluation of an Immunoradiometric Assay for CA15-3 Antigen Associated With Human Mammary Carcinomas: Comparison With Carcinoembryonic Antigen

Serum levels of CA15-3, a mammary tumor associated antigen recognizedby two different murine monoclonal antibodies (115D8 and DF3),were investigated in patients with mammary carcinoma and otherbenign or malignant diseases. The reference value of the serumCA15-3 level was obtained as 24 units/ml at the 99% confidencelimit among healthy individuals (n = 462). Elevation of serumCA15-3 levels was observed in 24.3% of overall patients withmammary carcinoma. Serum CA15-3 levels in breast cancer patientscorrelated with the clinical stage; higher percentages of positivitywere observed in those with advanced breast cancer (stage IV,64.7%, recurrent, 52.4% and metastatic, 70.3%). Furthermore,elevated serum CA15-3 levels in breast cancer patients respondedwell to the effect of therapy. Although the serum CA15-3 testgave percentages of positivity of breast cancer similar to thosefound by the serum CEA test, the serum CA15-3 test revealedlower percentages of posi-tivity than the serum CEA test amongpatients with benign breast lesions, liver cirrhosis or othercarcinomas. These results suggest that the serum CA15-3 antigenlevel provides a very useful marker for diagnosis and clinicalmonitoring of patients with breast cancer.     

Morphology and Morphometry of the Deformed Cervical Vertebrae in a Mutant Knotty-Tail (knt/knt) Mouse

Mice with short and knotty tails arose as a spontaneous mutant in an ICR strain, and they have been named knotty-tail mouse (gene symbol; knt). They also have a minor anomaly of the cervical vertebrae, especially in the axis. In this study, the cervical vertebrae of knotty-tail (knt/knt) mice were investigated by morphological and morphometric examinations during the prenatal and postnatal period. From the observation of double-stained preparations of knt/knt mice, morphological changes of cervical vertebrae were confined to the vertebral arch of the axis, which was asymmetrical and hypoplastic. From the morphometric analyses, outside of the axis, minor anomalies (i. e., broadened cervical vertebrae in the transverse direction, shortened and broadened ventral tuberculum of the atlas, thickened ventral lamina of 6th cervical vertebra) were maintained in the cervical vertebrae of knt/knt mice. Morphological deformity, reflecting an adult osseous anomaly, had been already formed in the cartilaginous axis prenatally. In the papain-digested preparations of knt/knt mice, a bony invagination into the canal was detected in the axis, and the morphometric analyses on axis revealed that the growth of spinous process was apparently disturbed in comparison with that of ICR mice.     

Flow cytometric analysis of homologous restriction factor 20KD (HRF20) expression on progeny cells during differentiation from haemopoietic progenitors in paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria

Summary. Paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) is an acquired clonal disorder with a deficiency of glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchored proteins. Homologous restriction factor 20KD (HRF20, CD59) is a GPI-anchored and major complement-regulatory protein which plays a key role in the haemolytic mechanism of PNH. We examined the differentiation stage at which the PNH abnormality occurs, by means of flow cytometric analysis of HRF20 expression. Non-phagocytic mononuclear marrow cells were labelled with anti-HRF20 monoclonal antibody and sorted into either HRF20-negative or -positive fractions. The sorted cells were cultured in methylcellulose and their progeny in the colonies or bursts were analysed for HRF20 expression. All colonies and bursts from HRF20-negative fractions remained negative, whereas those from HRF20-positive fractions were either positive or negative. The possibility of a sorting error was excluded, because the secondary colonies from the HRF20 positive primary colonies consisted of both positive and negative progeny. These results suggest that there are several stages during differentiation from early progenitors to mature cells, at which the PNH abnormality becomes manifest.     

Differential Vasorelaxant Effects of K+-Channel Openers and Ca2+-Channel Blockers on Canine Isolated Arteries

Abstract— The vasorelaxant effects of the K⁺-channel openers, pinacidil and cromakalim, were compared with those of the Ca²⁺-channel blockers, verapamil and KB-2796 (1-[bis(4-fluorophenyl)methyl]-4-(2,3,4-trimethoxybenzyl)piperazine dihydrochloride), in canine isolated coronary, renal, basilar and mesenteric arteries precontracted with U46619, a thromboxane A₂ mimetic. The relaxation induced by pinacidil and cromakalim was greater in coronary than in other arteries, the magnitude of relaxation being in the order of coronary > renal > basilar > mesenteric arteries. The relaxant responses to both drugs were inhibited by glibenclamide, a blocker of ATP-sensitive K⁺ channels. The relaxation induced by verapamil and KB-2796, in contrast, was greater in basilar than in other arteries, the magnitude of relaxation being in the order of basilar > coronary > renal and mesenteric arteries. In fura-2-loaded, U46619-stimulated arteries, pinacidil and cromakalim produced a greater reduction in intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration and muscle tension in coronary than in mesenteric arteries, while verapamil and KB-2796 reduced these values more potently in basilar than in mesenteric arteries. These results suggest that K⁺-channel openers exhibit a vasorelaxant selectivity for coronary arteries, whereas Ca²⁺-channel blockers exhibit such selectivity for cerebral arteries. The selective vasorelaxant action induced by these drugs appears to correspond, in part, to their effects on the concentration of intracellular Ca²⁺.     

The gene frequency of SB alleles in the Japanese population

The gene frequency (+/- SD) of SB alleles was estimated in the Japanese population as follows: SB1 0.00, SB2 0.195 +/- 0.027, SB3 0.070 +/- 0.017, SB4 0.091 +/- 0.019, SB5 0.335 +/- 0.034 and SB blank 0.308 +/- 0.035. The absence of SB1 allele, decrease of SB4 allele and increase of SB5 allele are characteristic features of the SB system in the Japanese population as compared with Caucasians.