CD4 cell and CD8 cell-mediated resistance to HIV-1 infection in exposed uninfected intravascular drug users in Vietnam.

Objective: To identify mechanisms of resistance to HIV-1 infection in exposed uninfected individuals.

Design: We examined in-vitro cell susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in highly exposed Vietnamese intravascular drug users (IDU) who, despite a history of more than 10 years of drug use and a high prevalence of other blood-borne viral infections, remain apparently HIV uninfected.

Methods: Forty-five exposed uninfected IDU and 50 blood donors were included in the study.

[Serological study of toxoplasmosis in Vietnam in a population of drug users (Ho Chi Minh city) and pregnant women (Nha Trang)].

Toxoplasmosis is a neglected disease in Vietnam particularly in populations with a high risk of developing complications. The seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii was calculated by testing blood samples for Toxoplasma specifically immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M on 300 intravascular drug users and on 300 pregnant women. Among intravascular drug users, the seroprevalence of IgG and IgM was 7.

Differential pattern in circulating nitrogen derivatives, lactoferrin, and anti-lactoferrin antibodies in HIV type 1 and HIV type 2 infections.

HIV-1 infection is associated with a dramatic reduction in antioxidative molecules both at the cellular level and in the circulation. This is particularly so for lactoferrin, an iron-binding protein involved in natural defenses (antimicrobial and antiviral activities, etc.) and found in whole secretions, including milk and mucus.

[Neuro-degenerative diseases: role of reactive oxygen species and of apoptosis].

NEURON DEATH: Major progress in our understanding of the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases has greatly benefited from the convergence between work devoted to reactive oxygen species (including nitric oxide) and programmed cell death, or apoptosis, and exitotoxicity. LATERAL AMYOTROPHIC SCLEROSIS: The discovery of a mutation in the copper-zinc superoxide dismutase gene in patients with lateral amyotrophic sclerosis has made it possible to analyze the events leading to neuron death in transgenic mice. An overload of reactive oxygen species accelerates apoptosis and oxidative stress is implicated in excitotoxicity which is a hyperstimulation of excitatory amino acides (glutamate, aspartate) producing neuron death.

Clinical and biological characteristics of human immunodeficiency virus-infected and uninfected intravascular drug users in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

To define the medical characteristics of intravascular drug users in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, we examined 280 men, of whom 235 were infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), being treated in a rehabilitation center. The patients used mainly opium, often in shooting galleries (50%). The prevalence of oral candidiasis (58%) and zoster infection (20%) was high in HIV-seropositive patients, whereas oral hairy leukoplasia and Kaposi's sarcoma were absent.

Antilactoferrin autoantibodies associated with HIV infection.

Sera from 85 HIV-infected patients were tested for the presence of antilactoferrin antibodies (anti-LF Abs) by specific ELISA. Fifty-seven sera were found positive, including sera from asymptomatic (18/28, 64.3%, mean O.

Interaction of mitoxantrone with heparin and its application to the quantitation of heparin.

The interaction of heparin of high molecular weight with mitoxantrone, an anthraquinone derivative, had been studied by spectrophotometry. Heparin links the mitoxantrone and the binding sites are probably the anionic groups of the mucopolysaccharide since the linking is displaced by Na+. This interaction of mitoxantrone with heparin could provides a sensitive and simple method for quantitation of heparin in non proteic medium and could appear of clinical relevance in some circumstances.

Class I and II HLA typing after a 10 Gy-4 hour therapeutic total body irradiation.

Class I and II HLA typing was investigated before and at various intervals after a 10 Gy total body irradiation delivered over 4 h, prior to allogeneic bone marrow graft for various hematological malignancies, in 14 patients. A reliable class I HLA typing appeared to be possible in almost all cases 6-8 hours after the start of irradiation but was only possible in 5 patients after 24 h. Preliminary results with class II antigens might suggest a more marked "fragility" of this antigen class after irradiation.

Cerebral arterial disturbances in a transient encephalopathy induced by methotrexate.

The mechanism of the transient encephalopathy induced by high dose systemic administration of methotrexate (HDMTX) is unknown. Metabolic and vascular hypothesis have been formulated but convincing evidence is lacking. We report the first case of vascular disturbances (thinness of cortical arteries on angiography, reversible fall down of cerebral flow and increase of carotid resistance) in a young Algerian patient treated for an osteogenic osteosarcoma.

[Immediate hematologic tolerance of extended irradiations after chemotherapy. Apropos of 78 cases of Hodgkin's disease stage III and IV without marrow involvement treated at the Gustave-Roussy Institute].

Early hematotoxicity following 4 to 8 courses of polychemotherapy has been analysed in 78 patients (mean age 32.5 years) treated for advanced stage Hodgkin's disease (53 stages III, 25 stages IV). Toxicity occurred in a third of the patients, and led to interrupt the treatment in one case out of 7, definitively in half of them.

Effect of irradiation on Plasmodium sporozoites depends on the species of hepatocyte infected.

The use of models such as rodents immunized with irradiated rodent malaria sporozoites can be helpful in defining the hepatic antigens which elicit a protective response. After "normal" penetration into the hepatocyte, and "normal" transformation, into trophozoites, irradiated sporozoites are known to begin development, but abort after a period of time that depends on the dose of radiation received. Experiments performed with cultured rat, mouse and Thamnomys gazellae hepatocytes infected with Plasmodium yoelii sporozoites demonstrated that the amount of radiation necessary to totally block the passage from the uninuclear to the multinuclear form differs for each species of hepatocyte.

Intraarterial infusion of carboplatin in the treatment of malignant gliomas: a phase II study.

Twenty-three previously treated patients with malignant gliomas were included in this phase II study of carboplatin (400 mg/m2) given as an intraarterial infusion every 4 weeks. Five patients (26% of 19 evaluable) achieved a partial response for 3 to 10 months and 5 patients presented a stabilization for 2 to 7 months. Toxicity was mild in most patients, with nausea, vomiting and myelosuppression being the most frequent side-effects.

[Randomized trial comparing mitoxantrone with adriamycin in advanced breast cancer].

Between June, 1983 and December, 1984, 142 patients with metastatic breast cancer were enrolled in this controlled, multicentre trial. The patients were given cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m2) plus 5-fluorouracil (750 mg/m2) and either adriamycin (45 mg/m2) (CAF) or mitoxantrone (13 mg/m2) (CNF). All drugs were administered intravenously on the same day every 21 days.

Non epidermotropic cutaneous lymphoma ending in leukemia. A case of adult T cell lymphoma (ATL) in France?

A case of uncommon non Hodgkin malignant lymphoma with initial skin involvement is reported. The pathological pattern does not come under standard classifications. An aspect of non epidermotropic diffuse pleomorphic lymphoma is observed.

Cancer chemotherapy induces a transient increase of serum-iron level.

Twenty eight consecutive patients with advanced solid malignancies were studied for variations in serum iron level after a first course of chemotherapy. Eleven different schedules involving twelve drugs were administered. Serum-iron level and serum siderophyllin, hemogram, reticulocytes, inflammatory tests, hemolysis parameters and hepatic enzymes were evaluated before treatment and around the fourth, twelfth and twenty first day after.

[Serum potentiation of hemolysis induced in vitro by adriamycin in man].

Human red cells lysis produced by adriamycin in vitro was investigated both in phosphate medium pH7 and in human serum. Drug induced hemolysis, that appeared with concentrations markedly above plasmatic levels seen in therapeutic, was stongly enhanced by serum. It is the first relations of modulation through a human serum factor of a biological action of adriamycin.