Occupational dermatitis with simultaneous immediate and delayed allergy to chrysanthemum

A 42-year-old woman had recurrent dermatitis on the hands, arms, face and trunk for 5 years. She was allergic to chrysanthemum, with positive patch tests. She also had contact urticaria to chrysanthemum, with a wheal-and-flare reaction 15 min after application of chrysanthemum juice to a scratch test site. This was not seen in control subjects. The co-existance of allergic contact dermatitis and contact urticaria from chrysanthemum might play a role in the development of dermatitis, especially severe chronic dermatitis of her hands.     

Effect of oxygen pressure during incubation with a 10B-carrier on 10B uptake capacity of cultured p53 wild-type and mutated tumor cells: dependency on p53 status of tumor cells and types of 10B-carriers

Purpose To evaluate the effect of oxygen pressure during incubation with a ¹⁰B-carrier on ¹⁰B uptake capacity of cultured p53 wild-type and mutated tumor cells.

Materials and methods Cultured human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell line transfected with mutant TP53 (SAS/mp53), or with a neo vector as a control (SAS/neo) was incubated with L-para-boronophenylalanine-¹⁰B (BPA) or sodium mercaptoundecahydrododecaborate-¹⁰B (BSH) as a ¹⁰B-carrier at the ¹⁰B concentration of 60 ppm for 24?h under aerobic (20.7% of oxygen) or hypoxic (0.28% of oxygen) conditions. Immediately after incubation, cultured tumor cells received reactor thermal neutron beams, and a cell survival assay was performed. ¹⁰B concentration of cultured SAS/neo or SAS/mp53 cells incubated under aerobic or hypoxic conditions was determined with a thermal neutron guide tube.

Results Hypoxic incubation significantly decreased ¹⁰B concentration of cultured cells with a clearer tendency observed following BPA than BSH treatment in both SAS/neo and SAS/mp53 cells. Following neutron beam irradiation, SAS/mp53 cells showed significantly higher relative biological effectiveness values than SAS/neo cells because of the significantly lower radiosensitivity of SAS/mp53 to γ-rays than SAS/neo cells.

Conclusion Oxygen pressure during incubation with a ¹⁰B-carrier had a critical impact on ¹⁰B uptake of cultured tumor cells.     

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase in tumor tissue indicates prognosis in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with R-CHOP

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) exerts immunomodulatory effects due to enzymatic activities catalyzing the essential amino acid L-tryptophan. IDO activity might play an important role in regulating immune responses exerted by antigen-presenting cells as a potent tool to help escape from assault by the immune system. In this study, we performed immunohistochemical analysis for IDO expression using mouse anti-human IDO monoclonal antibody in 119 tissue samples of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) obtained before treatment with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP). Not only the lymphoma cells themselves but also dendritic cells (DCs) expressed IDO. Positive IDO expression in lymphoma cells was found in 38 cases (32%). Complete remission rates in patients with IDO-positive DLBCL and IDO-negative DLBCL were 55.3% and 79.0% (p=0.008), while 3-year overall survival rates were 49.8% and 78.8%, respectively (p=0.0003). IDO activity might thus play an important role in DLBCL and cells that express IDO appear important for determining outcomes after R-CHOP treatment. IDO might represent a candidate therapeutic target for DLBCL patients who show resistance to chemotherapy.     

Myelofibrosis successfully treated with prednisolone in a patient with pachydermoperiostosis

Pachydermoperiostosis (PDP) is a rare disorder of bone and connective tissue growth. A 21-year-old man was referred to our hospital with anemia. He showed characteristics of PDP. Bone marrow biopsy showed myelofibrosis. Chromosomal abnormalities or JAK2 mutation were not found. Anemia gradually progressed, and he became transfusion-dependent. Oral prednisolone was initiated; it gradually improved his anemia and rendered the patient free of transfusion. However, other clinical symptoms such as clubbed fingers and skin hypertrophy remained unimproved. In this case, the serum concentration of vascular endothelial growth factor and transforming growth factor-β levels were increased. Further investigation will be necessary to establish appropriate treatment strategies for this disease.     

Neuromyelitis optica in Japanese sisters

We report cases of Japanese sisters with neuromyelitis optica (NMO). The elder sister was 25, when she was diagnosed with right optic neuritis. After 3 months, she developed left optic neuritis and myelitis. At age 27, she had the second relapse, but she has been free from episodes thereafter. The younger sister was 26, when she was diagnosed with optic neuritis. Thus far, she has 9 relapses, comprising both myelitis and optic neuritis. Both sisters had normal brain MRI scans, longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis over 3 vertebral segments, and positive results for anti-aquaporin-4 antibody (AQAP4Ab). They fulfilled the Wingerchuk criteria for definite NMO. Both sisters shared some immunogenetic factors, but they were not exposed to the same environmental factors after their early twenties. The final disability status was almost the same in both cases, and both showed a very benign course. These data suggest that genetic factors affect the age at onset and environmental factors may affect the frequency of relapse.     

Diffuse skeletal muscles uptake of [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose on positron emission tomography in primary muscle peripheral T-cell lymphoma

A 40-year-old man presented with weakness of neck extensor muscles. Cervical magnetic resonance imaging showed high-intensity areas in muscles of the left lateral cervical region on T2-weighted images. Fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography scan demonstrated striking fluorodeoxyglucose uptake by multiple skeletal muscles of the neck, chest, and abdominal region. Muscle biopsy demonstrated peripheral T-cell lymphoma, unspecified. The diagnosis was primary skeletal muscle peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Primary skeletal muscle non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of T-cell immunophenotype is extremely rare and fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography demonstrated striking fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in multiple skeletal muscles and served as a quite useful modality for the diagnosis of this patient.