Specificity of adoptive chemoimmunotherapy of established syngeneic tumors

To examine the specificity of adoptive chemoimmunotherapy (ACIT) of established syngeneic tumors, two noncross-reactive C57BL/6 tumors were studied: a Friend virus-induced tumor (FBL-3) and a chemically induced virus-negative tumor EL-4(G-). In vitro studies confirmed that these tumors are antigenically distinct by demonstrating that the cytotoxic responses of spleen cells from mice immunized in vivo and reexposed to tumor in vitro are immunologically specific. Studies of ACIT with cells from mice immunized in vivo demonstrated similar specificity. Mice receiving 5 x 10(6) FBL-3 on day 0 all died by day 13. Treatment on day 5 with cyclophosphamide (CY), 180 mg/kg, prolonged the median survival time (MST) to day 23. Treatment on day 5 with CY plus 2 x 10(7) normal nonimmune C57BL/6 cells or CY plus cells sensitized to EL-4(G-) had no additional effect on survival whereas 2 x 10(7) C57BL/6 cells sensitized to FBL-3 in vivo prolonged MST to day 64 and cured 13 of 32 mice. Similarly, mice given 2 x 10(5) EL-4(G-) on day 0 all died by day 16, and CY on day 5 prolonged the MST to day 22. As an adjunct to CY, 2 X 10(7) normal cells or cells sensitized to FBL-3 had a modest effect, prolonging the MST to days 37 and 36, respectively. However, treatment with CY plus 2 x 10(7) cells immune to EL-4(G-) cured 22 of 32 mice. The results demonstrate the immunologic specificity of ACIT of syngeneic tumors treated with immune syngeneic cells.     

Locus Heterogeneity for Waardenburg Syndrome is Predictive of Clinical Subtypes

Waardenburg syndrome (WS) is a dominantly inherited and clinically variable syndrome of deafness, pigmentary changes, and distinctive facial features. Clinically, WS type I (WS1) is differentiated from WS type II (WS2) by the high frequency of dystopia canthorum in the family. In some families, WS is caused by mutations in the PAX3 gene on chromosome 2q. We have typed microsatellite markers within and flanking PAX3 in 41 WS1 kindreds and 26 WS2 kindreds in order to estimate the proportion of families with probable mutations in PAX3 and to study the relationship between phenotypic and genotypic heterogeneity. Evaluation of heterogeneity in location scores obtained by multilocus analysis indicated that WS is linked to PAX3 in 60% of all WS families and in 100% of WS1 families. None of the WS2 families were linked. In those families in which equivocal lod scores (between −2 and +1) were found, PAX3 mutations have been identified in 5 of the 15 WS1 families but in none of the 4 WS2 families. Although preliminary studies do not suggest any association between the phenotype and the molecular pathology in 20 families with known PAX3 mutations and in four patients with chromosomal abnormalities in the vicinity of PAX3, the presence of dystopia in multiple family members is a reliable indicator for identifying families likely to have a defect in PAX3.     

Biodecolourization of azo and triphenylmethane dyes by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Dichomitus squalens</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phlebia</Emphasis> spp

Nine white-rot fungal strains were screened for biodecolourization of brilliant green, cresol red, crystal violet, congo red and orange II. Dichomitus squalens, Phlebia fascicularia and P. floridensis decolourized all of the dyes on solid agar medium and possessed better decolourization ability than Phanerochaete chrysosporium when tested in nitrogen-limited broth medium. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology (2002) 28, 201–203 DOI: 10.1038/sj/jim/7000222 Received 12 July 2001/ Accepted in revised form 22 October 2001     

The evolution of photosystem I in light of phage-encoded reaction centres

Recent structural determinations and metagenomic studies shed light on the evolution of photosystem I (PSI) from the homodimeric reaction centre of primitive bacteria to plant PSI at the top of the evolutionary development. The evolutionary scenario of over 3.5 billion years reveals an increase in the complexity of PSI. This phenomenon of ever-increasing complexity is common to all evolutionary processes that in their advanced stages are highly dependent on fine-tuning of regulatory processes. On the other hand, the recently discovered virus-encoded PSI complexes contain a minimal number of subunits. This may reflect the unique selection scenarios associated with viral replication. It may be beneficial for future engineering of productive processes to utilize ‘primitive’ complexes that disregard the cellular regulatory processes and to avoid those regulatory constraints when our goal is to divert the process from its original route. In this article, we discuss the evolutionary forces that act on viral reaction centres and the role of the virus-carried photosynthetic genes in the evolution of photosynthesis.