Pharmacokinetics of human lymphoblastoid interferon in rabbits

By intravenous (bolus) administration of large amounts (29 Mega Units) of lymphoblastoid interferon into rabbits, it has been possible to detect circulating antiviral activity (0.02% of the dose) up to 18 hr post-injection and to determine for the first time the pharmacokinetic parameters. The slow component (elimination phase) has a half-life of 235 +/- 9 min. The total apparent volume of distribution is 2,564 +/- 1,497 ml which is far larger than the combined plasma-extracellular volumes. This suggests a IFN dilution due to its extensive binding to cell receptors. The clearance of 7.3 +/- 4.1 ml/min is an index of the rate of renal and cellular (internalization of the receptor-ligand complex) catabolism of IFN. Pharmacokinetic parameters are useful for devising an administration schedule of IFN as an antiproliferative agent but are not predictive of an immunological response if IFN is used as an immuno-adjuvant.     

Tropical pyomyositis

A 22 year old male presented with symptoms of diffuse muscle pain and multiple abnormal laboratory findings that were eventually attributed to tropical myositis. Computed tomography scan was more reliable than ultrasound and served as a guide to needle aspiration and pathologic diagnosis.     

Alpha-thalassemia in two Mediterranean populations

We used restriction endonuclease analysis to determine the incidence of alpha-thalassemia in two Mediterranean islands. In a random population sample, the gene frequency of deletion-type alpha-thalassemia-2 (- alpha) was 0.18 in Sardinians and 0.07 in Greek Cypriots. All cases were the rightward crossover type. From these frequencies and the known incidence of hemoglobin-H disease in these populations, we calculated the frequency of the alpha-thalassemia-1 genotype (--) and determined that it was low. We also found that beta-thalassemia homozygotes in sardinia have a higher incidence of alpha-thalassemia than normals and beta thalassemia heterozygotes because a significantly greater number of these homozygotes are also homozygous for the alpha-thalassemia-2 lesion. These findings support the theory that coinheritance of alpha- thalassemia mitigates the severity of beta-thalassemia and suggest that the protection is most pronounced when two alpha-globin genes are deleted.