Connection between proliferation rate and temozolomide sensitivity of primary glioblastoma cell culture and expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">YB-1</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">LRP/MVP</Emphasis>

Glioblastomas (GBL) are the most common and aggressive brain tumors. They are distinguished by high resistance to radiation and chemotherapy. To find novel approaches for GBL classification, we obtained 16 primary GBL cell cultures and tested them with real-time PCR for mRNA expression of several genes (YB-1, MGMT, MELK, MVP, MDR1, BCRP) involved in controlling cell proliferation and drug resistance. The primary GBL cultures differed in terms of proliferation rate, wherein a group of GBL cell cultures with low proliferation rate demonstrated higher resistance to temozolomide. We found that GBL primary cell cultures characterized by high proliferation rate and lower resistance to temozolomide expressed higher mRNA level of the YB-1 and MDR1 genes, whereas upregulated expression of MVP/LRP mRNA was a marker in the group of GBL with low proliferation rate and high resistance. A moderate correlation between expression of YB-1 and MELK as well as YB-1 and MDR1 was found. In the case of YB-1 and MGMT expression, no correlation was found. A significant negative correlation was revealed between mRNA expression of MVP/LRP and MELK, MDR1, and BCRP. No correlation in expression of YB-1 and MVP/LRP genes was observed. It seems that mRNA expression of YB-1 and MVP/LRP may serve as a marker for GBL cell cultures belonging to distinct groups, each of which is characterized by a unique pattern of gene activity.     

Detection of Pneumocystis carinii DNA in clinical samples from children with respiratory diseases

Method of Pneumocystis carinii DNA detection in clinical samples (sputum) is presented. Primers to one fragment of 16S rRNA gene were used for detection of DNA. Isolation and amplification of DNA were performed in presence of internal DNA control. Analytical sensitivity of method was 200 copies of DNA per 1 ml. Analytical and diagnostic specificities were 100% and 95% accordingly. Sputum from 176 children with frequent respiratory infections were sampled before start of antibacterial therapy and studied simultaneously by the polymerase-chain reaction (PCR) and immunofluorescent assay (IFA). Results of PCR and IFA coincided in 167 (94.89%) children. From them, P.carinii was detected in sputum in 5 (2.85%) children. All children with positive results were treated with antibiotics. Repeated tests of sputum 8 days after start of treatment were all negative. PCR could be recommended as part of complex of clinical diagnostics and control of treatment.     

Sorbus aucuparia L. Fruit Is a Source of the Drug for Increasing the Efficiency of Tumor Chemotherapy

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry - The composition of phenolic compounds of rowanberry (Sorbus aucuparia L.) fruit extracts prepared with 40% ethanol and 95% acidified ethanol was studied....     

Spectrum of pneumotropic pathogens in pediatric patients with acute bronchitis and pneumonia]

One hundred eighty nine children with acute bronchopulmonary infectious pathological processes were examined bacteriologically and serologically for typical pneumotropic pathogens, 47 of them being as well examined for atypical organisms. Microbial associations mainly with Mycoplasma and Pneumocystis and to a lesser extent with Chlamydia were isolated from the majority of the children. Reactivation of the cytomegalovirus infection was observed in 25 per cent of the children. Pneumonia and bronchitis due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae either as a monoagent or in associations were mainly stated in children over 7 years of age. No significant changes between the indices of the infection due to a definite organism and the active progression of the infectious process of the same etiology were revealed, though in the cases of chlamydiosis the changes reached almost 10 per cent. In cases of acute bronchitis and pneumonia the chlamydial or cytomegalovirus infection could be assumed to be of the persisting nature, mainly acute in cases of pneumococcal infection, mixed in cases of hemophilic or pneumocystic infection, primary contamination with a tendency to prolonged in cases of mycoplasmic infection. The findings of the examination and the clinical and anamnestic data showed that the clinical picture of acute pneumonia had specific features associated with the supposed etiological agents, still it could change under the action of associations of pneumotropic pathogens.     

Influence of <Emphasis Type="Italic">RAR</Emphasis> α gene on <Emphasis Type="Italic">MDR1</Emphasis> expression and P-glycoprotein function in human leukemic cells

Background  

Multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype of malignant cells is the major problem in the chemotherapy of neoplasia. The treatment of leukemia with retinoids is aimed on the induction of leukemic cells differentiation. However the interconnections between retinoid regulated differentiation of leukemic cells and regulation of MDR remains unclear.     

Antibodies to the infective agents of opportunistic infections in blood of patients with hemoblastosis complicated with pneumonia

The examination of 112 hematological patients with diagnosed acute and chronic leucosis, lymphoma, myeloma, anemia, melanoma and other diseases revealed not a single subject among these examinees in whom no markers of opportunistic infections were detected. Low titers of antibodies to Pneumocystis carinii, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) were noted in 42%, 46.4% and 40.2% of examinees, respectively. Markers of acute diseases, such as class IgM, IgG antibodies in high titers, as well as P.carinii, CMV, EBV antigens, were detected in 37.5%, 30.4% and 22.3% of patients of a hematological hospital. In the group of comparison (donors) these figures were, respectively, 15.3%, 2.4% and 6.9%. The signs of monoinfection were detected in 11.6% (pneumocystosis), in 10.7% (CMV infection) and in 14.3% (EBV infection), while the markers of two infections, EBV infection and pneumocystosis, were detected in 9.8%, EBV and CMV infections in 11.6%, pneumocystosis and CMV infection in 14.3%; mixed contamination with all three infective agents was detected in 12.5% of the patients.