Immunological studies in a double blind randomized trial comparing intrapleural BCG against placebo in patients with resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer

Summary Immunological data were obtained during the course of a randomized trial comparing intrapleural BCG plus oral isoniazid (INH) with intrapleural saline plus oral placebo after resection of stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Immunological testing with a variety of assays was carried out with good standardization among six collaborating laboratories and with good reproducibility within each laboratory. Those patients with larger tumors tended to have higher initial white cell counts. The percentage of lymphocytes in the differential was greatest in those with non-squamous cancer histology. Otherwise, no associations were found between initial immunologic parameters and baseline variables. The main effect of BCG/INH therapy was to cause statistically significant increases in purified protein derivative (PPD) skin test induration and PPD in vitro blastogenesis compared with controls. Other skin tests and in vitro assays increased more in the saline/placebo control group, but these treatment differences were usually not statistically significant. Initial white count and neutrophil count elevations were found to be associated with increased risk of recurrence. Even after adjustment for treatment and tumor stage, initial neutrophil count elevation was associated with increased risk of recurrence. Surprisingly, a low 29° C T cell rosette index was associated with a decreased risk of recurrence, though the differences were minimal. Serial immunological tests were carried out to evaluate their potential for monitoring disease recurrence. White count elevations continued to be significantly associated with increased risk of recurrence, but more follow-up data are needed before other associations can be assessed.Members of the Lung Cancer Study Group include: E. C. Holmes** (Group Chairman), W. F. Coulson, K. P. Ramming, and T. H. Weisenburger from the University of California, Los Angeles; Z. Petrovich from Wadsworth Veterans Hospital, Los Angeles; R. T. Eagan**, R. E. Lee, W. S. Payne, R. E. Ritts, and L. Weiland from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester; C. F. Mountain**, H. T. Barkley, O. H. Frazier, K. Hermes, E. Hersh, and M. Valdivieso from the University of Texas System Cancer Center, MD Anderson Hospital, Houston; L. D. Hill**, M. D. Hafermann, and E. Morgan from the Mason Clinic, Seattle; P. W. Wright**, and K. E. Hellstrom from the Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle; C. Bagley, L. P. Johnson, H. Kellogg, and R. D. Pinkman from the Swedish Medical Center, Seattle; T. D. Ivey from University Hospital, Seattle; S. Hammar from Virginia Mason Hospital, Seattle; W. Nelems from St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver; R. Feld**, D. Bergsagel, T. C. Brown, J. Curtis, C. Keen, J. F. Pringle, I. Quirt, and L. Yeod from the Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto; M. Blackstein and M. Goldberg from Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto; F. G. Pearson**, D. W. Chamberlain, J. Cooper, W. Evans, and T. Todd from Toronto General Hospital, Toronto; M. Baker and R. Ginsberg from Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto; R. I. Mitchell from Wellesley Hospital, Toronto; R. K. Oldham**, J. T. Forbes, F. A. Greco, D. L. Page, R. Prager, R. L. Richardson, and S. L. Stroup from Vanderbilt University, Nashville; J. M. Lukeman** and S. M. Sajjad from the Pathology Reference Center of UT MD Anderson Hospital, Houston; P. Grifone, A. Lebeck, A. Sharpe, and T. Voss from the Operations Office, Silver Spring, Maryland; M. Gail and L. Rubinstein, Group Statisticians, W. McGuire, J. Allegra, G. Witman, Project Officers, from the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland; and W. Heineman, J. Beach, L. Close, and B. Sharkey from Information Services, Bethesda, Maryland. Asterisks designate principal investigators     

Stimulation of multiple shoot regeneration from seedling leaves of Hypericum perforatum L. by pluronic F-68

The effects of the non-ionic surfactant, Pluronic F-68, on the growth of shoots regenerated from seedlings (14 days post-germination) of Hypericum perforatum L. were studied. The supplementation of agar-solidified medium with 0.001% (w/v) of Pluronic increased the mean fresh weight of the regenerants after 60 days by 40% and the mean number of plant regenerants recovered per seedling by 34%; a less pronounced increase in the number of regenerants occurred with 0.01% (w/v) of the surfactant. By contrast, the mean fresh weight of the regenerants cultured in the presence of 0.1% (w/v) Pluronic F-68 was 15% lower than untreated controls, although the mean number of regenerants per seedling remained unaltered. The growth of seedling leaf-derived Hypericum callus after 60 days was unaffected by all the concentrations of Pluronic tested. However, there was a tendency for callus cells grown in the presence of Pluronic to be more highly pigmented with anthocyanins. The cultivation of leaf explants with 0.001% or 0.01% (w/v) Pluronic did not affect either the mean fresh weight of the regenerants or the mean number of regenerants per explant. However, decreases in both the mean fresh weight and the mean number of regenerants (both 33.0% lower than the control) occurred following the cultivation with 0.1% (w/v) Pluronic.     

Transgenic mice overexpressingγ-aminobutyric acid transporter subtypeⅠ develop obesity

INTRODUCTION7-aminobutyricacid(GABA)isthemajorinhibitoryneurotransmitterinthevertebratecelltralnervoussystemwhereitactingesavaxietyofGABAreceptortypes.TheneurotransmissionofGABAisthoughttobeterllilnatedbyit'srapidre-uptakeviaGABAtransportersintopresynapticneuronsandsurroundingglialcellsll,2].BesidesfUnctioningintheterminationofsynaptictransmission,GABAtransportersplayacriticalroleintheregUlationofthemagnitudeanddurationofGABA'sactionandmayajsomediatethereleaseofGABAintotheedrac…     

A randomized clinical trial of remission induction,consolidation, and chemo-immunotherapy maintenance in adult acute myeloblastic leukemia

Summary The Southeastern Cancer Study Group conducted a randomized clinical trial in acute myeloblastic leukemia and the blastic phase of chronic myelocytic leukemia to compare: Two induction programs (Schedule A) cytosine arabinoside and 6-thioguanine or (Schedule B) cytosine arabinoside, 6-thioguanine and daunorubicin; two consolidation programs (Schedule C) continuation of induction programs at a reduced dose or (Schedule D) a combination of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and vincristine; and two maintenance programs — (Schedule E) 1 month of BCG, followed by methotrexate or (Schedule F) methotrexate. Over a 3 year period 372 patients were entered and 295 were judged evaluable. None of 11 patients with blastic phase of chronic myelocytic leukemia responded. There were no significant differences between the schedules in the number of patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia achieving complete remissions (37%, Schedule A vs. 41% Schedule B). The relapse rates on consolidation were similar (43%, Schedule C and 39%, Schedule D). BCG significantly prolonged the duration of first remission following consolidation (P<0.05) from 13.0–23.9 weeks. Survival was not significantly prolonged (92.7 weeks vs. 71.7 weeks). There were no serious complications from BCG therapy. Contributors. The following members of the Southeastern Cancer Study Group participated in this study: John T. Carpenter, John R. Durant, Richard Gams, William J. Hammack, George A. Omura, Gayle Roberts, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama; Harold Silberman, Donald S. Miller, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina; William B. Kremer, Durham Veterans Administration Hospital, Durham, North Carolina; Evert A. Bruckner, Lawrence E. Cooper, Charles C. Corley, Joseph E. Hardison, Charles M. Huguley, Jr., James Keller, Mason G. Robertson, John D. Schmale, Charles Vogel, W. R. Vogler, William H. Whaley, E. F. Winton, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; Chan Kon Chin, Guy Faguet, Claude-Starr Wright, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia; Y. S. Ahn, Howard E. Lessner, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida; Dov Gorshein, Scott Murphy, Presbyterian University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; William E. Barry, Sharon P. Fischer, Rosaline R. Joseph, Richard V. Smalley, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Virgil Loeb, Jr., Cary Presant, Edward Reinhard, Shabbir H. Safdar, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Norman Maldonado, Enrique Velez-Garcia, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, Puerto Rico; S. A. Gregory, William H. Knospe, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois; Stephen Krauss, University of Tennessee Memorial Research Center, Knoxville, Tennessee; Karl Tornyos, New Orleans Veterans Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana; W. B. Forman, R. W. Kellermeyer, A. Rassiga, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio; William R. Arrowsmith, George Porter, Donald M. Samples, Ochsner Clinic, New Orleans, Louisiana; Lois W. Dow, Charles L. Neely, University of Tennessee School of Medicine, Memphis, Tennessee; G. O. Broun, Jr., St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri     

A systematic identification of Kolobok superfamily transposons in Trichomonas vaginalis and sequence analysis on related transposases

Transposons are sequence elements widely distributed among genomes of all three kingdoms of life,providing genomic changes and playing significant roles in genome evolution.Trichomonas vaginalis is an excellent model system for transposon study since its genome(～160 Mb) has been sequenced and is composed of～65%transposons and other repetitive elements.In this study,we primarily report the identification of Kolobok-type transposons(termed tvBac) in T.vaginalis and the results of transposase sequence analy...