Publications by authors named "Carrera C"

Experimental studies and the clinical course have shown that bladder cancer is confined to the bladder wall for some time, during which optimal treatment by complete surgical excision can be achieved. Failures are most often due to the presence of distant metastasis at the time of surgery and most patients invariably die although local and regional control of the tumor have been achieved. It is difficult to evaluate the benefits that neoadjuvant measures (radio and chemotherapy) contribute to surgery, basically due to the difficulty in classifying the tumor with precision.

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We report a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who developed a widespread papular eruption due to deposition of mucin in the dermis. Paraproteinaemia was demonstrated. Lichen myxoedematosus type 2 was diagnosed.

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Incidence of post-renal transplant (RT) lymphocele varies between 0.6% to 41% depending on the author. Therapeutical management of these entities is controversial.

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Objective: To determine if weekly oral 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA) can induce selective lymphocytopenia, and reduce inflammation, in patients with refractory psoriatic arthritis.

Methods: Seven patients with psoriatic arthritis were treated with oral 2-CdA at weekly dosages of 0.3 mg/kg to 0.

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The unique metabolic profile that renders lymphoid cells sensitive to purine deoxynucleosides also accounts for the response of chronic lymphoid malignancies to purine analogues. Consistent with earlier observations in children with adenosine deaminase deficiency, a profound and relatively selective lymphocyte depletion results from treatment with drugs that elevate or mimic deoxyadenosine. Three such agents available for clinical use are 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine, 2'-deoxycoformycin, and fludarabine phosphate.

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2-Chlorodeoxyadenosine (cladribine, Leustatin) is being used extensively in the treatment of hematologic malignancies, but relatively little is known regarding its toxicity to the normal marrow. Long-term serial hematologic observations have been made on 29 patients with multiple sclerosis undergoing experimental therapy with monthly courses of cladribine, each of which consisted of 0.087-0.

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Purpose: We performed a dose-escalation study of 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA) in solid tumors to determine the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD) and define its toxicity profile at higher doses.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-one patients, seven with malignant astrocytoma, twelve with metastatic melanoma, and two with metastatic hypernephroma, were enrolled onto the study. Patients were entered onto cohorts that received 0.

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The agent 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA) has chemotherapeutic activity in hairy cell leukemia (HCL) and in refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The cytotoxic activity of 2-CdA requires the intracellular accumulation of 2-CdA nucleotides. Deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) and cytoplasmic 5'-nucleotidase (5'-NT) are the principal enzymes that phosphorylate 2-CdA and dephosphorylate 2-CdA 5'-monophosphate, respectively.

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Deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) is necessary for the activity of several nucleosides used for the chemotherapy of cancer and AIDS. However, the measurement of dCK catalytic activity in crude cell extracts may be imprecise, due to the presence of phosphatases and nucleotidases that degrade the enzyme products. We describe a simple immunoassay for dCK that can measure accurately as little as 5 ng enzyme protein in crude tissue extracts.

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Cutaneous T-cell lymphomas are disfiguring malignant lymphoproliferative disorders for which standard therapy has been principally palliative. 2-Chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA), a new purine analogue resistant to degradation by adenosine deaminase that has substantial activity against lymphoid neoplasms, was administered to 16 patients with cutaneous involvement by T-cell lymphoma. All patients had failed topical treatment modalities and/or systemic therapies.

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2-Chlorodeoxyadenosine (CdA) is active in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, hairy-cell leukemia, and low-grade lymphomas. In part, this spectrum of activity may be attributable to the selective toxicity of CdA to nondividing lymphocytes and monocytes. However, CdA is unstable at acidic pH and is degraded by bacterial nucleoside phosphorylases.

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Purpose: Because of the need to identify effective new agents in the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and because of the high activity of the purine analog 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA) against chronic lymphocytic leukemia and hairy cell leukemia, a phase II trial of 2-CdA was initiated in patients with low-grade lymphocytic lymphomas.

Patients And Methods: Forty patients with low-grade lymphocytic lymphomas including diffuse small lymphocytic, follicular small-cleaved, and follicular mixed histologies were enrolled onto the study. Conventional therapies had failed in all patients, and six patients had lymph node biopsies showing evidence of histologic evolution to a higher-grade lymphoma.

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Mononuclear phagocytes play a central role in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases. It is therefore important to define chemotherapeutically exploitable metabolic pathways that distinguish monocytes from other cell types. Blood monocytes do not synthesize deoxynucleotides de novo, and their transformation to macrophages occurs without cell division.

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Although several different enzymes with 5'-nucleotidase activity have been described in mammalian cells, their functions in nucleotide metabolism have not been clearly distinguished. In the present experiments, a mutant human T lymphoblastoid cell line (CEM-dAdoR) was selected specifically for resistance to deoxyadenosine toxicity. Compared to parental CEM cells, the variant had 4-fold elevated ATP-activated cytosolic 5'-nucleotidase activity.

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Ninety patients with advanced refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were treated with 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA) administered either as a 0.1 mg/kg/day 7-day continuous intravenous infusion or as a 0.028 mg to 0.

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Hereditary adenosine deaminase deficiency results in failure of the lymphocyte development. This occurs because of the accumulation of deoxyadenine nucleotides in cells with high deoxycytidine kinase and low 5'-nucleotidase activity. 2-Chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA) resists the action of adenosine deaminase and accumulates in cells with high deoxycytidine kinase and low 5'-nucleotidase activity.

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Lymphoid cells were thought to be uniquely susceptible to excess 2'-deoxyadenosine (dAdo), when exposed to inhibitors of adenosine deaminase (ADA). However, we now find that human monocytes are as sensitive as lymphocytes to dAdo or to the ADA-resistant congener 2-chloro-2'-deoxyadenosine (CldAdo). Monocytes exposed in vitro to CldAdo, or to dAdo plus deoxycoformycin rapidly developed DNA strand breaks.

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2-Chlorodeoxyadenosine is a simple purine nucleoside that has previously been shown to be effective in the treatment of low-grade malignant disorders of lymphoid tissue, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Because of these encouraging results, we treated 12 patients with another low-grade B-cell neoplasm, hairy-cell leukemia. The patients received 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (0.

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Deoxyadenosine is known to be toxic to both proliferating and resting lymphocytes that lack adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity. We now show that human monocytes are also highly sensitive in vitro to nanomolar concentrations of deoxyadenosine plus the ADA inhibitor deoxycoformycin, and to the ADA-resistant analogue 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (CdA). Monocytes exposed to deoxyadenosine or to CdA in vitro accumulate massive DNA damage detectable within 1 hour.

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2-Chlorodeoxyadenosine, a new lymphocyte-selective, anti-neoplastic drug was administered to 18 patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia of B-cell origin. All patients were resistant to conventional treatment. A total of 44 courses of 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine were completed with minimal toxicity.

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