Gene conversion is a likely cause of mutation in PKD1

Approximately 70% of the gene responsible for the most common form of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease ( PKD1 ) is replicated in several highly homologous copies located more proximally on chromosome 16. We recently have described a novel technique for mutation detection in the duplicated region of PKD1 that circumvents the difficulties posed by these homologs. We have used this method to identify two patients with a nearly identical cluster of base pair substitutions in exon 23. Since pseudogenes are known to be reservoirs for mutation via gene conversion events for a number of other diseases, we decided to test whether these sequence differences in PKD1 could have arisen as a result of this mechanism. Using changes in restriction digest patterns, we were able to show that these sequence substitutions are also present in N23HA, a rodent-human somatic cell hybrid that contains only the PKD1 homologs. Moreover, these changes were also detected in total DNA from several affected and unaffected individuals that did not harbor this mutation in their PKD1 gene copy. This is the first example of gene conversion in PKD1 , and our findings highlight the importance of using gene-specific reagents in defining PKD1 mutations.      

Shwachman syndrome: Exocrine pancreatic dysfunction and variable phenotypic expression

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Shwachman syndrome is an inherited condition with multisystemic abnormalities, including exocrine pancreatic dysfunction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence and progression of features in a large cohort of patients. METHODS: Clinical records of 25 patients with Shwachman syndrome were reviewed. RESULTS: Mean birth weight (2.92 +/- 0.51 kg) was at the 25th percentile. However, by 6 months of age, mean heights and weights were less than the 5th percentile. After 6 months of age, growth velocity was normal. Severe fat maldigestion due to pancreatic insufficiency was present in early life (fecal fat, 26% +/- 17% of fat intake; age, < 2 years). Serial assessment of exocrine pancreatic function showed persistent deficits of enzyme secretion, but 45% of patients showed moderate age-related improvements leading to pancreatic sufficiency. Neutropenia was the most common hematologic abnormality (88%), but leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and anemia were also frequently encountered. Patients with hypoplasia of all three bone marrow cellular lines (n = 11) had the worst prognosis; 5 patients died, 2 of sepsis and 3 of acute myelogenous leukemia. Other findings included hepatomegaly and/or abnormal liver function test results and skeletal abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: A wide and varied spectrum of phenotypic abnormalities among patients with Shwachman syndrome is described. Pancreatic acinar dysfunction is an invariable abnormality. Patients with severe bone marrow involvement may have a guarded prognosis. (Gastroenterology 1996 Dec;111(6):1593-602)     

Prostaglandin E2 potentiates platelet aggregation by priming protein kinase C

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is produced by activated platelets and by several other cells, including capillary endothelial cells. PGE2 exerts a dual effect on platelet aggregation: inhibitory, at high, supraphysiologic concentrations, and potentiating, at low concentrations. No information exists on the biochemical mechanisms through which PGE2 exerts its proaggregatory effect on human platelets. We have evaluated the activity of PGE2 on human platelets and have analyzed the second messenger pathways involved. PGE2 (5 to 500 nmol/L) significantly enhanced aggregation induced by subthreshold concentrations of U46619, thrombin, adenosine diphosphate (ADP), and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) without simultaneously increasing calcium transients. At a high concentration (50 mumol/L), PGE2 inhibited both aggregation and calcium movements. PGE2 (5 to 500 nmol/L) significantly enhanced secretion of beta-thromboglobulin (beta TG) and adenosine triphosphate from U46619- and ADP-stimulated platelets, but it did not affect platelet shape change. PGE2 also increased the binding of radiolabeled fibrinogen to the platelet surface and increased the phosphorylation of the 47-kD protein in 32P- labeled platelets stimulated with subthreshold doses of U46619. Finally, the amplification of U46619-induced aggregation by PGE2 (500 nmol/L) was abolished by four different protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors (calphostin C, staurosporine, H7, and TMB8). Our results suggest that PGE2 exerts its facilitating activity on agonist-induced platelet activation by priming PKC to activation by other agonists. PGE2 potentiates platelet activation at concentrations produced by activated platelets and may thus be of pathophysiologic relevance.     

Autologous bone marrow transplantation in acute myelogenous leukemia: in vitro treatment with myeloid cell-specific monoclonal antibodies

Second or third chemotherapy-induced remissions in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) are limited by early relapse of the leukemia. We developed monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) that are cytotoxic to myeloid leukemia cells to treat bone marrow from these patients ex vivo for autologous transplantation. In this pilot study, bone marrow was harvested from ten patients with AML in remission, treated with one or two complement-fixing MoAbs, PM-81 and AML-2-23, which react with myeloid differentiation antigens, incubated with rabbit complement, and cryopreserved. These MoAbs were chosen because they have broad reactivity with AML cells but not with pluripotent progenitor cells. At the time of transplant, 6 patients were in second complete remission, 1 each was in third complete or partial remission, and 2 were in early first relapse. The patients were treated with cyclophosphamide (60 mg/kg a day for 2 days) and total body irradiation (200 cGy twice a day for 3 days) and given infusions of MoAb-treated bone marrow. Full bone marrow reconstitution was observed in eight patients; two patients did not recover platelets. Seven of the ten patients are surviving and disease-free at 21.0, 15.0, 13.0, 10.0, 6.0, 3.0, and 2.0 months posttransplant. Treating bone marrow with MoAbs to myeloid differentiation antigens does not interfere with pluripotential stem cell engraftment. Longer follow-up and a controlled study are necessary to prove that the apparent efficacy of this therapeutic approach in some patients is attributable to MoAb-mediated killing of leukemia cells.     

Interleukin-6 enhances growth factor-dependent proliferation of the blast cells of acute myeloblastic leukemia

The effects of recombinant interleukin-6 (IL-6) on the proliferation of blast precursors present in the peripheral blood of patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) was investigated. IL-6 had little effect by itself; however, it synergized with granulocyte macrophage colony- stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-3 (IL-3) in the stimulation of AML blast colony formation. Responsiveness of blast progenitors to IL-6 was heterogeneous. On normal bone marrow cells the same synergy was observed on granulocyte and monocyte precursors (GM-CFC), while there was no significant effect on erythroid and multipotential precursors.     

Maternal–Fetal Interactions Focus: Toward an understanding of allogeneic conflict in pregnancy and transplantation

Pregnancy is recognized as a spontaneously acquired state of immunological tolerance by the mother to her semi-allogeneic fetus, but it is a major cause of allosensitization in candidates for organ transplantation. This sensitization, assessed by the presence of anti-HLA IgG, contributes to sex disparity in access to transplantation and increases the risk for rejection and graft loss. Understanding this dual tolerance/sensitization conundrum may lead to new strategies for equalizing access to transplantation among sexes and improving transplant outcomes in parous women. Here, we review the clinical evidence that pregnancy results in humoral sensitization and query whether T cell responses are sensitized. Furthermore, we summarize preclinical evidence on the effects of pregnancy on fetus-specific CD4⁺ conventional, regulatory, and CD8⁺ T cells, and humoral responses. We end with a discussion on the impact of the divergent effects that pregnancy has upon alloantigen re-encounter in the context of solid organ transplantation, and how these insights point to a therapeutic roadmap for controlling pregnancy-dependent allosensitization.

IntroductionThe fact that multiple successive pregnancies with the same male partner can be brought to term successfully suggests that the immunological response to a semi-allogeneic fetus is diametrically opposite to the responses elicited by genetically comparable transplanted organs. Peter Medawar in 1953 (Medawar, 1953) discussed this “immunological paradox of pregnancy,” and since then, there have been extensive investigations into how the fetus avoids rejection. A plethora of immune regulatory mechanisms has been uncovered within the uterine environment, including enrichment in regulatory T cells (Tregs), natural killer cells, regulatory macrophages, entrapment of APCs, and chemokine gene silencing of decidual stromal cells (PrabhuDas et al., 2015). Systemic factors that prevent fetal rejection have also been identified, including immune modulation by pregnancy-related hormones and release of tolerogenic placental debris, which may contribute to the preferential systemic expansion of fetus-specific Tregs and acquired dysfunction by conventional T cells (Tconvs) and CD8⁺ T cells. Since the majority of these mechanisms either act locally or only during pregnancy, it was assumed that T cell tolerance would manifest itself only in the context of subsequent pregnancy, and that encounter with the same alloantigens in the context of a solid organ transplant, in the absence of local or systemic pregnancy-induced immunomodulation, would trigger allograft rejection.The emphasis on T cells as the major mediator of allograft rejection and on T cell tolerance as a means to achieve transplantation tolerance parallels the focus on the constraint of T cells in pregnancy. Thus, despite studies in the 1980s by Bell and Billington (Bell and Billington, 1981; Bell and Billington, 1983; Bell and Billington, 1986) that pregnancy can elicit paternal-reactive antibodies, how pregnancy sensitizes B cell responses while maintaining T cell tolerance to the semi-allogeneic fetus has remained an under-investigated topic in preclinical models (PrabhuDas et al., 2015). In contrast and driven by the ease in quantifying HLA-specific antibodies but difficulty in assessing HLA-specific T cell responses, clinical studies in solid organ transplantation have revealed that pregnancy is a highly sensitizing event that results in the production of fetus-reactive anti-HLA antibodies, and the presence of these antibodies limits access to transplantation and contributes to increased risk of transplant rejection. In this review, we focus on the contrasting effects of pregnancy on these two arms of the adaptive immune system, and on how these pregnancy-shaped responses are recalled by alloantigens that are shared between offspring and transplanted allograft.Clinical impact of pregnancy alloimmunization in organ transplantationHumoral sensitizationThe effect of pregnancy on the immune system was first reported by J.J. Rodd in 1959 when he described peripartum women experiencing an increased number of blood transfusion reactions (Van Rood et al., 1958). It was this observation that allowed for the discovery of anti-HLA antibodies from the sera of pregnant women (Van Rood et al., 1958). Anti-HLA antibodies are produced during the first trimester of a pregnancy and increase in titer over the gestational course and with multiple pregnancies (Lee et al., 2011). During the postpartum phase, antibody levels rise in the first 90 d and gradually disappear in 50% of postpartum women over a 1–2 yr period (Cecka, 2010; Masson et al., 2013). Anti-HLA antibody titers following kidney transplantation increase more robustly in patients having had prior pregnancies than in those having received previous transplantation or transfusion, suggestive of robust pregnancy-induced memory B cells (Higgins et al., 2015). Notably, although pregnancy-induced alloantibodies can diminish with time, alloreactive memory T and B cells can persist (Senn et al., 2021). Thus, anti-HLA antibodies and memory B cells induced by semi-allogeneic pregnancies play a pivotal role prior to and after transplantation, especially for multiparous women.Historically, anti-HLA antibody titers were measured by the panel-reactive antibody (PRA) technique through a complement-dependent cytotoxicity assay; however, the major limitation of this method is its inconsistency and lack of HLA specificity. In 2009, the United Network for Organ Sharing implemented measuring sensitization using single HLA-coated beads, an assay that precisely identifies specific HLA antigen targets (Cecka, 2010). A computer algorithm generates a calculated PRA (cPRA) according to the HLA frequencies derived from the donor population with the goal of providing consistently accurate results on the extent of sensitization of transplant candidates and the chances for a highly sensitized candidate to find a compatible organ donor. Around 30% of pregnant women are sensitized when measured via complement-dependent cytotoxicity assay, whereas 50–75% of women were found to be sensitized by pregnancy when the single HLA bead assay was used (Bromberger et al., 2017). Furthermore, a retrospective analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing registry’s waitlist pool showed that individuals with a cPRA >98% were over-represented by women by ~60% (Redfield et al., 2016). Cumulatively, these data reveal the detrimental impact of pregnancy in women in need of a transplant and the disparity it creates toward identifying a suitable donor organ and having a successful post-transplantation course.Living donor kidney transplantation has better outcomes compared to kidney transplantation from deceased donors (Roodnat et al., 2003). However, 30% fewer women received living donor kidney transplantation as compared with men despite comparable referrals (Bromberger et al., 2017; Roodnat et al., 2003). Pregnancy was identified as a major contributor to this disparity, as postpartum women were increasingly incompatible with their spouse and offspring compared with men (Bromberger et al., 2017). Furthermore, parous women are at a higher risk of being sensitized to unrelated donors sharing an allele of the partner or offspring (Gibney et al., 2006; Vaidya et al., 2006). Child-specific sensitization measured by single-HLA bead assay was detected at the HLA-A/B/C/DR loci in 28–38% of 301 multiparous women analyzed (Honger et al., 2013), with child-specific HLA-B loci being the most sensitizing followed by HLA-A > HLA-DRB1 > HLA-C (Dankers et al., 2003; Honger et al., 2013). Furthermore, by quantifying mother/child mismatches by the number of mismatched HLA eplets, where an eplet is defined as the cluster of amino acids representing the smallest functional unit of structural epitopes on the HLA molecule targeted by B cell receptor and antibodies, the rate of child-specific sensitization increased with the presence of ≥20 mismatched eplets (Honger et al., 2013). These observations are reminiscent of eplet-load mismatch between the organ donor and the recipient predicting de novo anti-HLA antibody production by the host and reduced graft survival, and thus underscories the detrimental effects of pregnancy-induced humoral sensitization (Philogene et al., 2020; Sapir-Pichhadze et al., 2020).T cell sensitizationIn contrast to the abundant evidence that fetus-specific B cell responses are induced during pregnancy and the barrier they pose to transplantation, the effects of pregnancy-induced effector T cell responses on subsequent transplantation are more opaque. Specifically, although it is clear that maternal T cells acquire tolerance to the semi-allogeneic fetus, it is uncertain whether this T cell tolerance extends to subsequent organ allografts sharing antigens with the fetus. Early observations that fetal-derived stem cells can persist in low numbers in the mother’s circulation for as long as 27 yr, a phenomenon termed peripheral fetal microchimerism (Nelson, 1998), prompted the hypothesis that this microchimerism mediates long-term fetus-specific tolerance in mothers and promotes the acceptance of grafts from their offspring (Starzl et al., 1993). However, several studies testing the correlation between donor/recipient kinship and allograft fate have reported comparable outcomes between groups receiving grafts from offspring versus non-offspring (Cohen et al., 2018; Ghafari, 2008; Mahanty et al., 2001). A recent retrospective analysis performed using the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network living donor liver transplant database revealed that 1-, 5- and 10-yr allografts and patient survival was poorer among mothers who received the organ from their offspring as compared with unrelated living donors (Dagan et al., 2020). A major caveat of such studies is the potential pro-rejection effects of pregnancy-sensitized B cells even when pregnancy-induced antibodies have diminished; as a result, the contribution of pregnancy-primed T cells, either pro-rejection or pro-tolerogenic, may be obscured. Indeed, Senn et al. (2021) reported that women with prior pregnancies receiving kidneys from their husband consistently had a higher rate of antibody-mediated rejection compared with women with prior pregnancies receiving kidneys from other living or deceased donors.A limited number of studies have attempted to directly quantify ex vivo donor-specific T cell responses arising during normal human pregnancy using proliferation, cytokine production, or cellular cytotoxicity as readouts. When IL-4 and IFNγ ELISPOT assays were used to quantify PBMC responses from non-pregnant versus pregnant women to paternal or pooled alloantigens, Mjosberg et al. (2007) reported that pregnancy did not result in increased paternal-specific IL-4 or IFNγ responses. Furthermore, removal of Tregs resulted in non-specific increases in IFNγ responses and paternal-specific augmentation in IL-4 production. Collectively, their study suggested an absence of pregnancy-specific sensitization of T cells, while also hinting at postpartum Tregs controlling fetus-specific IL-4 responses and broadly controlling IFNγ responses. Notably, reduced frequencies of circulating FoxP3⁺ Tregs were observed with spontaneous preterm birth, preeclampsia, and recurrent spontaneous miscarriages compared to healthy pregnancies suggesting a more systemic effect of Tregs (Dimova et al., 2011; Inada et al., 2015; Inada et al., 2013; Kisielewicz et al., 2010; Koucky et al., 2014; Mjosberg et al., 2010; Nadkarni et al., 2016; Schober et al., 2012; Tilburgs et al., 2008; Tsuda et al., 2018).Pregnancy-induced Tregs are critical for promoting both primary and secondary pregnancies by suppressing T cell proliferation and cytokine production not only in secondary lymphoid organs but also in the placenta (Salvany-Celades et al., 2019). Expansion of Tregs in the decidual tissue has been prostulated to suppress fetus-specific responses locally (Tilburgs et al., 2008; Erlebacher, 2013). Notably, three different Treg populations have been identified at the maternal–fetal interface: CD25^HIFOXP3⁺, PD1^HIFOXP3⁻IL-10⁺, and TIGIT⁺FOXP3^dim Tregs. Decidual CD25^HIFOXP3⁺ Tregs were able to suppress the proliferation and IFNγ and TNFα production by CD4⁺ and effector CD8⁺ T cells in vitro, whereas decidual PD1^HI Tregs and TIGIT⁺ Tregs inhibited CD4⁺ but not effector CD8⁺ T cells. However, whether pregnancy-induced Tregs are most potent in the decidua or whether they can also dominantly suppress T cell responses to offspring-matched allografts in secondary lymphoid organs is currently unknown.CD8⁺ T cell responses to fetus-specific minor antigens have been more consistently reported to develop during pregnancy compared to CD4⁺ T cell responses (Linscheid and Petroff, 2013). Lissauer et al. (2012) assayed fetal-specific CD8⁺ cytotoxic responses using MHC-peptide dextramer multimers bearing a HY-immunodominant peptide in women pregnant with a male fetus. These CD8⁺ T cells expanded during pregnancy and persisted in the post-natal period in 50–62% of pregnant women. Furthermore, the fetal-specific CD8⁺ T cells retained their ability to proliferate, secrete IFNγ, and lyse target cells. These observations corroborated previous studies (Bouma et al., 1996; James et al., 2003; Mommaas et al., 2002; Piper et al., 2007; Verdijk et al., 2004) and suggested that fetal-specific CD8⁺ T cells expand during pregnancy and persist postpartum. It is tempting to speculate that preservation of fetus-CD8⁺ T cell responses during pregnancy, especially in the decidua, may have been evolutionarily selected to ensure the development of protective immunity for the developing fetus against viral infections, given that the fetus is haplo-identical to the mother, and thus maternal HLA-restricted CD8⁺ responses will recognize virally infected fetal cells (Tilburgs and Strominger, 2013; van Egmond et al., 2016). Indeed, observations that the decidua contains a higher percentage of CD8⁺ T cells and a lower percentage of CD4⁺ T cells compared with the peripheral blood is consistent with this possibility (Tilburgs et al., 2009; van Egmond et al., 2016).Potentially divergent fates of fetus-specific T cell subsets, together with a paucity of studies examining fetus-specific T cell responses in the extended postpartum period, make it difficult to definitively conclude if pregnancy-primed T cells are functionally tolerant or sensitized to fetal antigens presented in the context of a solid organ transplant. The ex vivo quantification of fetus-specific T cell responses is technically challenging and complicated by the increased frequency of pregnancy-induced Tregs (Salvany-Celades et al., 2019). Furthermore, ex vivo observations may not necessarily predict how these cells will behave in vivo after transplantation with organs sharing HLA antigens with the fetus. In vivo studies in postpartum recipients suggest that poorer outcomes are complicated by pregnancy-induced humoral sensitization (

Cyclophosphamide,doxorubicin, and gemcitabine combination chemotherapy for treatment of metastatic and locally advanced breast cancer

Metastatic and locally advanced breast cancer remain a fertile field for investigation of new chemotherapeutic agents and chemotherapy combinations. We administered combination chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and gemcitabine to 20 women with metastatic and/or locally advanced breast cancer. The regimen was well tolerated, although it required granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) support. This novel regimen resulted in a complete response rate of 20% and overall response rates of 89% (intent-to-treat response of 80%). Gemcitabine is a highly effective agent that warrants farther evaluation as a component of multidrug chemotherapy.     

Parathyroid adenomas evaluated by Tl-201/Tc-99m pertechnetate subtraction scintigraphy and high-resolution ultrasonography

Thallium-201/technetium-99m pertechnetate subtraction scintigraphy of the parathyroid glands was performed in a prospective study of 33 patients who had undergone bilateral neck exploration for elevated serum calcium and serum parathyroid hormone levels. In 31 cases, the Tl-201/Tc-99m subtraction technique yielded an overall sensitivity of 81%, specificity of 99%, and accuracy of 94% for identifying solitary parathyroid adenomas. Tl-201/Tc-99m subtraction scintigraphy correctly identified 73% of parathyroid adenomas weighing less than 499 mg, 79% of those weighing 500-1,499 mg, and 100% of adenomas weighing more than 1,500 mg. In a subgroup of 24 patients with solitary parathyroid adenomas who underwent both scintigraphy and high-resolution sonography, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of both procedures were similar.