Maturation of Pulmonary Metastases of Wilms' Tumor after Therapy: A Case Report

A case is reported of Wilms' tumor associated with multiple pulmonary metastases histologically showing maturation of the tumor cells at 9 years after the resection of the primary tumor and intensive therapy. A huge tumor of a 22-month-old patient's right kidney was resected. The tumor was diagnosed as Wilms' tumor of mesenchymal type (stage 1), which consisted of predominantly immature mesenchymal tissue including rhabdomyoblasts, smooth muscle and fibrous tissue, and few blastemal and epithelial components. Intensive preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy with actinomycin D and vincristine and postoperative irradiation therapy totaling 16 Gy were carried out. The patient was regularly followed up uneventfully until 9 years after the surgery. On routine chest x ray at the age of 10 years 11 months, multiple pulmonary nodules were found. The excised nodules from the bilateral lungs disclosed similar histology, exclusively composed of dense collagen bundles and fibrocytes intermingled with mature striated muscle bundles. No immature tumor components were detected. The possible effect of intensive therapy in this maturation was stressed, although spontaneous benign differentiation of tumor cells cannot be excluded.     

Induction of Fc (IgG) receptor(s) by simian cytomegaloviruses in human embryonic lung fibroblasts

Human embryonic lung (HEL) fibroblasts infected with simian cytomegalovirus (SCMV) were found to bind nonspecifically to the Fc portion of human immunoglobulin (Ig) G (IgG). Binding of IgG to SCMV-infected HEL fibroblasts, but not to uninfected HEL cells, was visualized as cytoplasmic fluorescence by the indirect immunofluorescence test, regardless of the presence of anti-CMV antibodies. The receptor(s) reacted with the IgG class of different species, but not with IgM and IgA. The purified Fc fragment reacted with the receptor(s), but the Fab fragment reacted poorly. The reaction was blocked by pretreatment of infected cells with the Fc fragment, but was not blocked with the Fab fragment. The appearance of the Fc receptor(s) required RNA and protein synthesis, whereas a requirement for DNA synthesis remains to be answered by a more sensitive assay. The development of the Fc receptor(s) was inhibited by 2-deoxy-D-glucose, thus indicating that the Fc receptor(s) may be a glycoprotein(s). The Fc receptor(s) was induced by all strains of SCMV tested so far. These included one laboratory strain (GR2757), four fresh isolates from primary kidney cell cultures of African green monkeys, and four fresh isolates from the salivary glands of the Macaca monkeys captured from the wild in Japan.     

Electron microscopic studies of the replication of mouse cytomegalovirus in mouse embryo cells.

During the replication a pathogenic and a non-pathogenic strain of mouse cytomegalovirus in mouse embryo cells, three types of progeny virus particles were observed in both cases; the virus yields of the two strains differed considerably.     

Catalase, a Specific Antigen in the Feces of Human Subjects Infected with Helicobacter pylori

Recently, we reported the production of three new monoclonal antibodies with high specificity for a Helicobacter pylori antigen suitable for diagnosis of H. pylori infection. The aim of the present study was to identify the antigen recognized by these monoclonal antibodies concerning both H. pylori and the feces of human subjects infected with H. pylori. The cellular antigen was purified from an H. pylori cell extract by immunoaffinity column chromatography with the monoclonal antibody as a ligand. The amino-terminal amino acid sequences (eight residues) of the purified antigen and H. pylori catalase were the same. The molecular weights of native and subunit, specific catalase activity, and UV and visible spectra of the purified antigen were in good agreement with those of H. pylori catalase. The human fecal antigens were purified from two fecal samples of two H. pylori-positive subjects by ammonium sulfate precipitation, CM-Sephadex C₅₀ chromatography, and the same immunoaffinity chromatography used for the H. pylori cellular antigen. The fecal antigens had catalase activity. The amino-terminal amino acid sequences (five residues) of the human fecal antigen and H. pylori catalase were the same. The monoclonal antibodies reacted with the native cellular antigen, but did not react with the denatured antigen, human catalase, and bovine catalase. The results show that the target antigen of the monoclonal antibodies is native H. pylori catalase and that the monoclonal antibodies are able to specifically detect the antigen, which exists in an intact form, retaining the catalase activity in human feces.     

Serodiagnosis of tsutsugamushi fever (scrub typhus) by the indirect immunoperoxidase technique.

The indirect immunoperoxidase technique was assessed for the serodiagnosis of tsutsugamushi fever (scrub typhus). The antigens were peritoneal smears prepared from mice infected intraperitoneally with the Karp, Kato, and Gilliam strains of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi. Treatment of the mice with cyclophosphamide apparently increased the number of the rickettsiae, and it minimized the exudate that interfered with the specific staining. The rickettsiae were seen as clusters in the juxtanuclear region of the mesothelial cells and also as free particles outside of the cells. By the indirect immunoperoxidase technique, the sera from all of the patients (49 samples from 30 patients) were positive for the R. tsutsugamushi antibody. The antibody titers (immunoglobulin G [IgG] and IgM) determined by the indirect immunoperoxidase technique correlated with those determined by the indirect immunofluorescence technique. Thus, the indirect immunoperoxidase technique was useful for quantifying both IgG and IgM antibodies to the rickettsia.     

PROGRESSIVE MULTIFOCAL LEUKOENCEPHALOPATHY

Clinical, light- and electron microscopic, and immunohistochemical findings of a 44-year-old woman with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy were presented. Autopsy revealed a wide distribution of the demyelinating lesion in the cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem and spinal cord, and intranuclear inclusion bodies and papova-like virions in transmission electron microscopy in the nuclei of oligodendrocytes. SV40 antigen was immunohistochemically detected in these inclusion bodies. The widespread extension of the lesions seemed to correlate with the duration of the patient's illness. The prolongation of the clinical course in this case may be dependent upon the lack of serious underlying diseases except for a small nodule of thyroid carcinoma, SV40 infection rather than JC virus infection and/or improved care of that kind of patient.     

Induction of intestinal mastocytosis in nude mice by repeated injection of interleukin-3

The number of mast cells in various tissues of nude mice was examined after daily injection of Interleukin-3 (IL-3), which was purified from the media conditioned by WEHI-3B cell line. Repeated intraperitoneal injection of IL-3 caused a significant increase in the number of mucosal mast cells (MMC) in the epithelium of small intestine more than 30-fold and also to a lesser extent in the villous lamina propria of small intestine and caecum. The number of mast cells in the spleen, approximately 60% of which were formalin-resistant and were assumed as connective tissue type mast cells (CTMC), increased 3-fold by IL-3 treatment. Although statistically not significant, the number of mast cells in the ear skin also slightly increased.