The tolerability of continuous intravenous infusion of interleukin-3 after DHAP chemotherapy in patients with relapsed malignant lymphoma. A phase-I study.

The objective of this phase-I study was to establish the maximum tolerable dose of recombinant human interleukin-3 (rhIL-3) after salvage chemotherapy in patients with malignant lymphoma. Twenty-one patients with relapsed Hodgkin's disease or intermediate/high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma received rhIL-3 after the second cycle of DHAP chemotherapy (cisplatin, cytosine-arabinoside, dexamethasone). Cycles 1 and 3 were given without rhIL-3.

Detection of monosomy 7 and trisomy 8 in myeloid neoplasia: a comparison of banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a powerful tool for detection of numerical and structural chromosomal aberrations. We have compared conventional banding techniques and FISH for the detection of monosomy 7 (-7) and trisomy 8 (+8) in 89 patients with myeloid malignancies. Of these patients, 21 had -7, 30 had +8, four had both, and 34 had no aberrations or aberrations other than -7 or +8 as assessed by banding techniques.

Urinary symptoms due to leukemic infiltration of the prostate. A case report.

A patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia is presented who suffered from urinary obstructive symptoms due to leukemic infiltration of the prostate gland. He was treated with local radiotherapy, which resulted in complete relief of symptoms. Our report indicates that leukemic infiltration of the prostate should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients with CLL presenting with obstructive symptoms of the urinary tract.

Inhibitory effect of interleukin-4 on the proliferation of acute myeloid leukemia cells with myelo-monocytic differentiation (AML-M4/M5); the role of interleukin-6.

Since interleukin-4 (IL-4) specifically inhibits monocytic colony formation in human bone marrow cultures, we investigated whether a similar inhibition could be observed in cultures of optimally stimulated acute myeloid leukemia cells with myelomonocytic differentiation (AML-M4/M5). Sensitivity to IL-4 was tested in 19 cases of AML-M4/M5, using both a 3H-thymidine incorporation assay and a clonogenic assay. Proliferation was stimulated with a combination of IL-3, granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and conditioned medium from phytohemagglutinin-stimulated leukocytes (PHA-CM).

Myeloid but not lymphoid cells carry the 5q deletion: polymerase chain reaction analysis of loss of heterozygosity using mini-repeat sequences on highly purified cell fractions.

Interstitial deletions of the long arm of chromosome 5 are among the most characteristic abnormalities observed in myeloid disorders. To assess the lineage involvement of peripheral blood cells from patients with a 5q--anomaly, purified neutrophils, monocytes, T lymphocytes, and B lymphocytes were analyzed for loss of heterozygosity using six different highly polymorphic mininucleotide and dinucleotide (CA) repeat sequences from the 5q31 to 5q33 region. Ten patients were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and proved to be informative for at least one marker.

t(5;12)(q31;p12). A clinical entity with features of both myeloid leukemia and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.

We report two patients with a myeloproliferative disorder (Philadelphia chromosome-negative chronic myeloid leukemia) and t(5;12)(q31;p12). Until now, only three cases of a translocation (5;12)(q31;p12) have been reported. All investigators had problems classifying their patient's disease into one of the well-defined entities of either MPD or myelodysplastic disorders.

Interleukin-9 stimulates the proliferation of enriched human erythroid progenitor cells: additive effect with GM-CSF.

In the study we report here we investigated the colony-stimulating activities of interleukin-9 (IL-9). In the presence of erythropoietin, IL-9 was found to stimulate the proliferation of relatively early erythroid progenitor cells (BFU-E) from normal human bone marrow cells depleted of mononuclear phagocytes and T lymphocytes. Neutralization experiments demonstrated that the observed BFU-E-stimulating effect was not the result of intermediate production of IL-3 or GM-CSF by residual accessory cells in response to IL-9.

Clonal involvement of granulocytes and monocytes, but not of T and B lymphocytes and natural killer cells in patients with myelodysplasia: analysis by X-linked restriction fragment length polymorphisms and polymerase chain reaction of the phosphoglycerate kinase gene.

To determine the clonal nature of hematopoiesis and to assess lineage involvement in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), we used restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the X-linked genes phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK1) and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) and the X-linked probe M27 beta. Eleven female MDS patients heterozygous for at least one of these probes were studied: 3 with refractory anemia (RA), 2 with RA with ringed sideroblasts (RARS), 2 with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML), and 4 with RA with excess of blasts in transformation (RAEB-t). All exhibited clonal hematopoiesis as determined by Southern analysis of DNA prepared from peripheral blood (PB) and/or bone marrow (BM) cells.

Effect of mast cell growth factor (c-kit ligand) on clonogenic leukemic precursor cells.

Mast cell growth factor (MGF), the ligand for the c-kit receptor, has been shown to be a hematopoietic growth factor that preferentially stimulates the proliferation of immature hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC). We studied the effect of MGF on the in vitro growth of clonogenic leukemic precursor cells in the presence or absence of interleukin-3 (IL-3), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and/or erythropoietin (EPO). Leukemic blood and bone marrow cells from patients with various types of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase, as well as bone marrow samples from patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) were studied.

Serum monocyte colony-stimulating factor, erythropoietin and interleukin-6 in relation to pancytopenia in hairy cell leukemia.

In patients with hairy cell leukemia (HCL), we measured serum levels of monocyte colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and erythropoietin during various degrees of pancytopenia characteristic for this disease. Serial sera from 12 HCL patients during various stages of the disease were analyzed. No correlation was found between the levels of M-CSF or IL-6 and the numbers of circulating monocytes or platelets, normal values of M-CSF (4 to 10 mg/l), and IL-6 (3-50 U/ml) being detected during all stages of the disease.

Epstein-Barr virus infection in allogeneic marrow grafting: lessons for transplant physicians and virologists.

The relationship between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the host is profoundly disturbed by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) because EBV resides in the recipient's hematopoietic system, which has to be destroyed in the majority of cases, and in the donor's hematopoietic system, i.e., the marrow graft.

Intensification of GVHD prophylaxis interferes with the effects of pretransplant herpes virus serology on the occurrence of grades II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease.

The effects of pretransplant herpes virus serology on the occurrence of grades II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) were studied in 262 recipients and their HLA-identical family donors. In 131 recipients on standard GVHD prophylaxis (either methotrexate or cyclosporin A) significant effects were observed for donor HSV serology (seropositivity associated with increased risk for GVHD) and donor EBV serology (seronegativity associated with increased risk). However, these effects were nonsignificant in the other 131 recipients on intensified GVHD prophylaxis (i.

IL-2 dependence of IL-9 expression in human T lymphocytes.

Human IL-9 is a T cell-derived lymphokine that is abundantly expressed upon activation with mitogens. The observation that IL-9 induction peaks as late as 28 h after stimulation suggested the involvement of secondary signals in this process. The finding reported here that IL-9 expression is blocked by cycloheximide strongly supports this hypothesis.

In vivo use of Campath-1G to prevent graft-versus-host disease and graft rejection after bone marrow transplantation.

Twenty-two patients (16 male, six female; median age 34 years, range 16-49) with acute myeloid leukemia (1st complete remission (CR), n = 9), acute lymphocytic leukemia (1st CR, n = 5), chronic myeloid leukemia (chronic phase n = 5, accelerated phase n = 1), malignant lymphoma (n = 1) and myeloma (n = 1) were transplanted with unmanipulated donor bone marrow after standard conditioning including the monoclonal antibody Campath-1G daily from day -4 to day 0. No further graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was given. All patients engrafted and neither graft failure nor rejection were observed.

Combined immunophenotyping and DNA in situ hybridization to study lineage involvement in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.

Clonality of myeloid and lymphoid cell fractions obtained from peripheral blood (PB) or bone marrow (BM) of five patients with a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), was studied by combined immunophenotypic analysis and DNA in situ hybridization. This novel technique enables quantitative and direct analysis of cytogenetic alterations in nondividing cells of distinct cell lineages. Four patients with a trisomy 8 and one patient with a translocation (1;7) were studied.

Interleukin 6 is a permissive factor for monocytic colony formation by human hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Since monocytes and macrophages that arise during the culture of bone marrow progenitor cells are potential sources of interleukin 6 (IL-6), we investigated whether auto- or paracrine production of this factor is involved in colony formation by normal hematopoietic progenitor cells. We added a polyclonal anti-IL-6 antiserum and a monoclonal anti-IL-6 antibody to cultures of monocyte- and T cell-depleted bone marrow cells. Colony formation was stimulated with granulocyte/monocyte-colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), monocyte-CSF, or IL-3.

Recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor accelerates neutrophil and monocyte recovery after allogeneic T-cell-depleted bone marrow transplantation.

In a prospective randomized study, five European transplant centers compared recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF; mammalian glycosylated) with placebo. rhGM-CSF was administered in a dose of 8 micrograms glycoprotein (5.5 micrograms protein)/kg/d, as a continuous intravenous (IV) infusion for 14 days, starting 3 hours after bone marrow infusion.

Longitudinal analysis of point mutations of the N-ras proto-oncogene in patients with myelodysplasia using archived blood smears.

We performed a longitudinal analysis of point mutations of the N-ras proto-oncogene in patients with myelodysplasia and a follow-up of at least 2.5 years after diagnosis. Point mutations at codons 12, 13, and 61 of the N-ras oncogene were analyzed after in vitro amplification of N-ras specific sequences followed by dot-blot hybridization.

Sustained engraftment of mice transplanted with IL-1-primed blood-derived stem cells.

IL-1 is considered the primary mediator of the acute phase response. One of the characteristic manifestations of this response is early neutrophilia that is probably caused by release of mature neutrophils from the bone marrow into the peripheral blood. In the present study, we assessed whether IL-1 had a similar releasing effect on the number of circulating progenitor cells and stem cells.

Human interleukin for DA cells (HILDA) does not affect the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells in human long-term bone marrow cultures.

Human Interleukin for DA cells (HILDA), a cytokine also known as leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), induces proliferation without concurrent differentiation of murine embryonic stem cells. Therefore, we investigated the effects of recombinant HILDA/LIF on the proliferation and differentiation of human hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) grown in long-term bone marrow cultures (LTBMC). Pre-established stromal cell layers were reinoculated with autologous cryopreserved mononuclear phagocyte- and T-lymphocyte-depleted bone marrow cells in the presence or absence of HILDA/LIF (200 U/ml).

Clonal hematopoiesis in patients with acquired aplastic anemia.

To determine whether patients with acquired asplastic anemia (AA) exhibit clonal hematopoiesis, we used restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the X-linked genes phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK1) and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) and the X-linked probe M27 beta. Of the 19 female patients studied, 18 (95%) patients were informative for at least one marker. Of these, eight patients (42%) were heterozygous for PGK1, two (11%) for HPRT, and 16 (84%) for M27 beta.

Interleukin 4 down-regulates the expression of CD14 and the production of interleukin 6 in acute myeloid leukemia cells.

On normal monocytes, interleukin 4 (IL-4) down-regulates the production of several proteins that are produced in response to bacterial cell wall lipopolysaccharides (LPS), among others IL-6. In addition, IL-4 was shown to down-regulate the expression of the monocytic differentiation marker CD14, recently identified as a receptor for LPS. Since (autocrine) IL-6 is possibly involved in the proliferation and differentiation of acute myeloid leukemia cells with myelomonocytic differentiation (AML-M4/M5), we studied the effects of IL-4 on IL-6 production and CD14 expression by these cells.

[Therapy of systemic mycoses in neutropenic patients using itraconazole. A comparative, randomized study with amphotericin B].

Systemic mycosis constitute a serious threat for the patient with granulocytopenia. The most important causative agents are Candida spp., Aspergillus spp.

Differential stimulatory and inhibitory effects of interleukin 4 on granulocytic and monocytic colony formation in human bone marrow cultures.

Both stimulatory and inhibitory effects of interleukin (IL) 4 on myelopoiesis have been described. In this paper we further define the specificity of these effects. IL-4 was added to cultures of bone marrow cells in which colony formation was stimulated with several colony-stimulating factors (CSFs): monocyte CSF (M-CSF), granulocyte CSF (G-CSF), IL-3, IL-5 and conditioned medium from phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood cells (PHA-CM).