A case of resectable lung adenocarcinoma associated with sarcoidosis

A 71-year-old woman with uveitis was referred to our hospital for further examination of the possible underlying diseases. In roentgenological examination with plain X-ray and CT scan, hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy and a mass shadow in the right upper lung field was observed, whereas fibrotic changes were not obvious in both lung fields. Transbronchial lung biopsy with fiberoptic bronchoscope revealed granulomatous interstitial pneumonia. CD4-positive lymphocytes were increased in bronchoalveolar lavage. The patient was diagnosed as having sarcoidosis. Subsequently, right upper lobectomy was performed, and Stage I lung adenocarcinoma was diagnosed. The patient is under follow up without medication and the disease has been stable for two years. A relationship between epithelioid granulomatosis and malignant diseases is discussed and a review of the literature is given. Since it is still controversial as to the incidence of malignant diseases in sarcoidosis patients, it is important to accumulate data on these associations.     

Gas7b (Growth Arrest Specific Protein 7b) Regulates Neuronal Cell Morphology by Enhancing Microtubule and Actin Filament Assembly

Neurons undergo several morphological changes as a part of normal neuron maturation process. Alzheimer disease is associated with increased neuroproliferation and impaired neuronal maturation. In this study, we demonstrated that Gas7b (growth arrest specific protein 7b) expression in a neuronal cell line, Neuro 2A, induces cell maturation by facilitating formation of dendrite-like processes and/or filopodia projections and that Gas7b co-localizes with neurite microtubules. Molecular analysis was performed to evaluate whether Gas7b associates with actin filaments and microtubules, and the data revealed two novel roles of Gas7b in neurite outgrowth: we showed that Gas7b enhances bundling of several microtubule filaments and connects microtubules with actin filaments. These results suggest that Gas7b governs neural cell morphogenesis by enhancing the coordination between actin filaments and microtubules. We conclude that lower neuronal Gas7b levels may impact Alzheimer disease progression.     

Elimination of mycoplasmas from cultured human cell lines utilizing a combination of two antibiotics, quinolone and a pleuromutilin derivative

Forty three cultured human cell lines were treated with a combination of 2 antibiotics to eliminate contaminant mycoplasmas. One course of treatment was composed of consecutive 3 or 4 cycles. Each cycle grew cells in BM-1 (pleuromutilin derivative; Boehringer Mannheim) containing medium (10 micrograms BM-1/ml culture) for 3 days, alternating with MC-210 (quinolone; Dainihon Pharmaceutical) containing medium (0.625 micrograms MC-210/ml culture) for 4 days. No treatment failure was encountered with this procedure. Before treatments, 18 (90%) of 20 cell line samples were contaminated with mycoplasma, as tested by DNA hybridization method (MYCOPLASMA T.C. RAPID DETECTION SYSTEM; Gen-Probe Inc.). Out of 43 cell lines treated, 7 were reduced in growth and dropped out. Among the other 36 cell lines, 27 became negative, 5 borderline and 4 slightly positive to the mycoplasma detection. All of the latter 9 cell lines, treated with one more similar course, found to be free from mycoplasma. Six of the dropout lines were cured of mycoplasma by a second treatment, under modified culture conditions. The last cell line (NATO) was successfully treated with another lot of FCS. Thus, the procedure proved successful even in treating promiscuously infected cell lines.