Recruitment and treatment practices for help-seeking "prodromal" patients

The prodrome of psychosis has become a target for early identification and for treatments that address both symptoms and risk for future psychosis. Interest and activity in this realm is now worldwide. Clinical trials with rigorous methodology have only just begun, making treatment guidelines premature. Despite the sparse evidence base, treatments are currently applied to patients in the new prodromal clinics, usually treatments developed for established psychosis and modified for the prodromal phase. This communication will describe representative samplings of how treatment-seeking prodromal patients are currently recruited and treated in prodromal clinics worldwide. Recruitment includes how prodromal patients are sought, initially evaluated, apprised of their high-risk status, and informed of the risks and benefits of prodromal treatments and how their mental state is monitored over time. The treatment modalities offered (and described) include engagement, supportive therapy, case management, stress management, cognitive behavioral treatment, family-based treatment, antipsychotic pharmacotherapy, and non-antipsychotic pharmacotherapy. References for details are noted.     

The DSM-IV version of schizophrenia may be harmful to patients' health

The DSM-III, III-R and DSM-IV diagnostic systems required deterioration (functional loss) and duration (6 months) in the diagnosis of schizophrenia. These criteria made schizophrenia exceptional to an otherwise phenomenologically-based nosology, but their inclusion represented an effort to disentangle the diagnosis of schizophrenia from considerable historical baggage. Newer findings about the efforts of early detection and intervention in schizophrenia, however, are now calling into question the validity, utility and even the safety of these decisions. This communication will review the original reasons for including deterioration and duration as criteria. It will then argue that these reasons are now obsolete and potentially anti-therapeutic, and that a revised set of cross-sectional phenomenologic criteria for schizophrenia need to be utilized as soon as possible.     

The Development of a Novel Cancer Immunotherapeutic Platform Using Tumor-targeting Mesenchymal Stem Cells and a Protein Vaccine

An ideal anticancer strategy should target only the malignant cells but spare the normal ones. In this regard, we established a platform, consisting of an antigen-delivering vehicle and a protein vaccine, for developing an immunotherapeutic approach with the potential for eliminating various cancer types. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been demonstrated capable of targeting tumors and integrating into the stroma. Moreover, we have developed a protein vaccine PE(ΔIII)-E7-KDEL3 which specifically recognized E7 antigen and elicited immunity against cervical cancer. Taking advantage of tumor-homing property of MSCs and PE(ΔIII)-E7-KDEL3, we used E6/E7-immortalized human MSCs (KP-hMSCs) as an E7 antigen-delivering vehicle to test if this protein vaccine could effectively eliminate non-E7-expressing tumor cells. Animals which received combined treatment of KP-hMSCs and PE(ΔIII)-E7-KDEL3 demonstrated a significant inhibition of tumor growth and lung-metastasis when compared to PE(ΔIII)-E7-KDEL3 only and KP-hMSCs only groups. The efficiency of tumor suppression correlated positively to the specific immune response induced by PE(ΔIII)-E7-KDEL3. In addition, this combined treatment inhibited tumor growth via inducing apoptosis. Our findings indicated that KP-hMSCs could be used as a tumor-targeting device and mediate antitumor effect of PE(ΔIII)-E7-KDEL3. We believe this strategy could serve as a platform for developing a universal vaccine for different cancer types.     

HUMAN PANCREATIC GROWTH HORMONE RELEASING HORMONE FAILS TO STIMULATE HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE BOTH IN CUSHING''S DISEASE AND IN CUSHING''S SYNDROME DUE TO ADRENOCORTICAL ADENOMA

An absent or severely blunted hGH response to an i.v. bolus injection (100 micrograms) of human pancreatic growth hormone releasing hormone (hpGRF 1-44) was found in seven female patients with Cushing's syndrome (five with pituitary dependent Cushing's disease and two due to an adrenal adenoma) and four men with pituitary dependent Cushing's disease. Three of the female and three of the male patients had an adequate hypoglycaemia after insulin administration. All these patients showed an absent or blunted hGH response after insulin induced hypoglycaemia. The GHRH data in these patients are in agreement with those in older literature on hGH responsiveness to stimuli such as L-dopa, arginine and insulin induced hypoglycaemia. It is concluded that hypercortisolism inhibits hGH release to various stimuli at the pituitary level.     

Secretion of Tumour Necrosis Factor α and Lymphotoxin α in Relation to Polymorphisms in the TNF Genes and HLA-DR Alleles. Relevance for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The genes for tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and lymphotoxin alpha (LTα; TNFβ) are tandemly arranged in the central region of the MHC. They may, therefore, be of importance for the aetiology of MHC-associated diseases. The authors have prospectively studied the secretion of TNFα and LTα in relation to polymorphisms at positions -308 and -238 in the TNFα gene (TNFA), and two polymorphisms in the first intron of the LTα gene (LTA), as well as HLA-DR in 30 patients with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and 12 healthy controls. In the Dutch population, the alleles of these four polymorphisms are present in only five combinations, called TNF-haplotypes: TNF-C, -E, -H, -I, and -P. Significant associations between TNF haplotypes and TNFα and LTα secretion were found when PBMC were cultured with T-cell activators, irrespective of disease. Mean TNFα secretion of individuals carrying the HLA-DR3 associated TNF-E haplotype was significantly higher, as compared to individuals without this haplotype (26 441 pg/ml versus 19 629 pg/ml; P = 0.014). Individuals carrying the TNF-C haplotype produced the lowest amount of TNFα (17 408 pg/ml; P = 0.022). The TNF-C and TNF-E haplotypes differ only at position -308 in the promoter of TNFA. Individuals carrying the HLA-DR1 associated TNF-I haplotype produced significantly less LTα when compared to those who lack this haplotype (1979 pg/ml versus 3462 pg/ml; P = 0.006). As the TNF-I haplotype is also associated with low TNFα secretion, this haplotype thus defines a ‘low secretor phenotype’. In conclusion, this is the first study to show associations between TNF haplotypes and TNFα and LTα secretion when T-cell stimulators are used. These findings will contribute to define disease heterogeneity in IBD and may be of relevance for understanding the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases.