[Neurosarcoma associated with neurofibromatosis 1. Apropos of a case and review of the literature].

Background: Type 1 neurofibromatosis considerably increases the risk of cancer development, particularly neurosarcoma. We report a case in a patient with chemosensitive metastatic neurosarcoma.

Case Report: A young female patient with familial type 1 neurofibromatosis developed pleural metastasis of a neurosarcoma located on the arm.

The fission yeast UVDR DNA repair pathway is inducible.

In addition to nucleotide excision repair (NER), the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe possesses a UV damage endonuclease (UVDE) for the excision of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and 6-4 pyrimidine pyrimidones. We have previously described UVDE as part of an alternative excision repair pathway, UVDR, for UV damage repair. The existence of two excision repair processes has long been postulated to exist in S.

Neoplastic transformation of mouse C3H10T1/2 cells following exposure to neutrons does not involve mutation of ras gene as analyzed by SSCP and cycle sequencing.

About 25% of human tumors contain a mutated member of the ras gene family. Neutron exposure is an occupational risk in several work places and while we know that cells exposed to neutrons can become transformed, the molecular basis of this process is not understood. To determine whether neutron-induced cellular transformation involves ras mutation, C3H10T1/2 cells were exposed to a single dose of 5.

[Adjuvant treatment of colonic cancers].

In the last decade, adjuvant chemotherapy has led to significant improvement in survival for large bowel cancer patients. The association of 5-FU plus levamisole was the first described and demonstrated its efficacy in stage Dukes C (T1,2,3,4 N1 M0) completely-resected adenocarcinoma. Recently, chemotherapy with 5-FU and folinic acid was recommended on the basis of randomized trials.

Quality of final care for terminal cancer patients in a comprehensive cancer centre from the point of view of patients' families.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of care for terminal cancer patients at our institution, as assessed by families in a questionnaire sent 6 months after the death of the patient. We evaluated the quality of information given to the patients and to their families, the patients' "comfort" at the end of their lives (nursing, pain, psychological support) and the families' opinions about the practical conditions at the time of death (in our institution or at home). A total of 105 consecutive patients who died in our institution between January and June 1989 were included in the study; the vast majority had breast or head and neck cancers.

Early lymphopenia after cytotoxic chemotherapy as a risk factor for febrile neutropenia.

Purpose: Febrile grade four (ie, < or = 500/microL) neutropenia (FN) is a frequent life-threatening complication of cancer chemotherapy. Although its incidence correlates to the dose of chemotherapy, FN may occur after almost any cytotoxic regimen. At present, there is no predictive method to identify patients who will experience FN.

[Chemotherapy in elderly patients with bronchogenic cancers].

Bronchogenic carcinoma is the most frequent carcinoma of men and affect more often old patients. Medical oncologists and pneumologists don't treat or treat with less intensive therapies patients older than 70 or 75 years compared with younger patients. That behaviour is not based on scientific criterias.

[Synthetic progestational hormones in the treatment of neoplastic cachexia].

Cachexia frequently occurs in cancer patients. Indeed, this syndrome affects about 50% of hospitalized patients. This clinical entity may be described by different characteristics: appetite and weight loss, several metabolic abnormalities, possible influence of cytokines, poor prognosis.

An alternative eukaryotic DNA excision repair pathway.

DNA lesions induced by UV light, cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers, and (6-4)pyrimidine pyrimidones are known to be repaired by the process of nucleotide excision repair (NER). However, in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, studies have demonstrated that at least two mechanisms for excising UV photo-products exist; NER and a second, previously unidentified process. Recently we reported that S.

[Cytotoxic chemotherapy in elderly patients: present and future].

Cancer in elderly people accounts for more than 50% of the malignant tumors treated per year in France and this population of patients has a rather high-life expectancy. Chemotherapy is active in these elderly patients but clearly more toxic than for young ones. The general tendency among the physicians to empirically reduce the doses is due to the known increased risk of unexpected toxicities.

A new ATP-independent DNA endonuclease from Schizosaccharomyces pombe that recognizes cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and 6-4 photoproducts.

We have discovered a new DNA endonuclease in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe which recognizes cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and (6-4) pyrimidine-pyrimidone photoproducts. S. pombe DNA endonuclease (SPDE) catalyzes a single ATP-independent incision immediately 5' to the UV photoproduct and generates termini containing 3' hydroxyl and 5' phosphoryl groups.

Repair of DNA damaged by UV light and ionizing radiation by cell-free extracts prepared from Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

A whole cell extract prepared from Schizosaccharomyces pombe was shown to be active in an assay for repair of plasmid DNA damaged by either ultraviolet (UV) light or gamma-radiation. The assay allows for analysis of repair synthesis at single-strand nicks generated by gamma-rays and analysis of the incision step and repair synthesis in UV-light-damaged DNA. Repair synthesis of DNA damaged by either UV light or gamma-rays was shown to depend on the presence of ATP in the reaction mixture.

The molecular biology of radiation carcinogenesis.

Major new insights into carcinogenesis have come from recent advances in cellular and molecular biology. The concept of oncogenes provides a simple explanation for how agents as diverse as radiation, chemicals or retroviruses can induce tumors that are indistinguishable one from another. Oncogenes may be activated by a point mutation, by a chromosome translocation, or by amplification.

Alterations in the polypyrimidine sequence affect the in vitro splicing reactions catalyzed by HeLa cell-free preparations.

The polypyrimidine tract, located at the 3' end of intron 1 of the adenovirus major late transcript, was studied for its role in splicing using cell-free preparations isolated from HeLa cells. A plasmid (pIz) was constructed in which seven purine bases were substituted for pyrimidine bases within the 14-nucleotide polypyrimidine sequence. Runoff transcripts extending to the middle of intron 2 were tested for their ability to support in vitro splicing.

In vitro formation of a lariat structure containing a G2'-5'G linkage.

We have examined the effects of base changes at the lariat branch site of a modified adenovirus major late precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA). Replacement of the A residue at the lariat attachment site with a G residue was studied. Incubation of this altered pre-mRNA with nuclear extracts of HeLa cells yielded less spliced mRNA (10-fold) than similar reactions with the wild type pre-mRNA.

Cloning, expression and sequencing the molybdenum-pterin binding protein (mop) gene of Clostridium pasteurianum in Escherichia coli.

mop is the structural gene for the molybdenum-pterin binding protein, which is the major molybdenum binding protein in Clostridium pastuerianum. The mop gene was detected by immunoscreening genomic libraries of C. pastuerianum and identified by determining the nucleotide sequence of the cloned insert of clostridial DNA.

Two soybean seed lipoxygenase nulls accumulate reduced levels of lipoxygenase transcripts.

Soybean (Glycine max L. [Merrill]) seed lipoxygenase cDNA clones were recovered from two cDNA libraries: a size-selected library in pBR322 and an expression library in pUC8. The pUC8 library was made with total poly(A)(+) embryo RNA and was screened with antiserum to lipoxygenase-1, one of 3 seed lipoxygenase isozymes.

Isolation and characterization of two fractions from HeLa cells required for mRNA splicing in vitro.

A nuclear extract from HeLa cells has been separated by DEAE-cellulose chromatography into two fractions, both of which are required for mRNA splicing in vitro. Both fractions are heat labile and sensitive to N-ethylmaleimide. The activity of one of the fractions was abolished by preincubation with micrococcal nuclease, while the other fraction was unaffected by this treatment.

Characterization of the major mRNAs from adenovirus 2 early region 4 by cDNA cloning and sequencing.

The sequences at the splice junctions of many early region 4 (E4) mRNAs from adenovirus 2 (Ad2) were determined by analysis of cDNA clones. The cDNAs were synthesized from poly(A)+ mRNA isolated from HeLa cells early during Ad2 infection. A standard library was constructed, in pBR322, from double stranded cDNAs initiated by oligo-dT priming.

The analysis of a chicken myosin heavy chain cDNA clone.

A cDNA library has been constructed in the plasmid pBR322 using a large size class of RNA derived from chicken embryonic leg muscle as the template material. A clone containing a 2350-base pair insert was selected and identified as coding for the myosin heavy chain sequence, based upon its ability to hybridize to genomic myosin heavy chain clones, and by direct nucleotide sequencing. Cross-hybridization experiments with myosin heavy chain genomic clones, and mRNAs derived from different muscle types were used to explore the heterogeneity of the various myosin heavy chain isoforms at the level of the coding sequences.

Structural sequences are conserved in the genes coding for the alpha, alpha' and beta-subunits of the soybean 7S seed storage protein.

Cloned DNAs encoding four different proteins have been isolated from recombinant cDNA libraries constructed with Glycine max seed mRNAs. Two cloned DNAs code for the alpha and alpha'-subunits of the 7S seed storage protein (conglycinin). The other cloned cDNAs code for proteins which are synthesized in vitro as 68,000 d.

Isolation of multiple genomic sequences coding for chicken myosin heavy chain protein.

A genomic bank has been constructed using DNA isolated from a dystrophic strain of chickens. The library was screened for myosin heavy chain (MHC) sequences using a cDNA probe and 11 positive recombinants isolated. Identity of the clones was confirmed by positive RNA selection via hybridization of the clones with muscle RNA and subsequent translation of the hybridizable RNA in vitro.

[Theoretical investigations for optimising the quantum in radiodiagnosis (author's transl)].

On the basis of the present calculations, it is possible to determine the optimal exposure energies for any object of combination of materials. The results of the present investigation contradict present day practice. Calculated energies are sometimes much higher than those employed at present.