New TFR2 mutations in young Italian patients with hemochromatosis.

This work describes the identification of two subjects with young-age iron overload carrying new causative mutations in transferrin receptor-2 gene. One was compound heterozygous (Asn411del/Ala444Thr) and the second was homozygous for a mutation affecting RNA splicing (IVS17+5636G>A). Another mutation (His33Asn) and a polymorphism were found in a group of 50 controls.

Reactive thrombocytosis might contribute to chemotherapy-related thrombophilia in patients with lung cancer.

Purpose: Thrombotic risk is increased in patients with cancer and further potentiated by chemotherapy. We assessed whether early hemostatic alterations could represent a risk factor for thrombosis in patients undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer.

Patients And Methods: Forty-nine patients receiving chemotherapy for unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic lung cancer were included.

Prognostic role of protease-activated receptors 1 and 4 in resected stage IB non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background: Protease-activated receptor (PAR)-1 and PAR-4 are involved in extracellular matrix invasion and angiogenesis.

Patients And Methods: A series of 60 resected stage IB non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), including 30 adenocarcinomas (ADCs) and 30 squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), were processed by immunohistochemistry with antibodies to PAR-1, PAR-4, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and CD34.

Results: Protease-activated receptor-1 was expressed in 37 cases (62%) and PAR-4 in 39 (65%).

Pathogenesis of hyperferritinemia cataract syndrome.

Hereditary hyperferritinemia-cataract syndrome (HHCS) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by bilateral cataracts and increased serum L-ferritin, in the absence of iron overload. Under physiological conditions, ferritin synthesis is finely regulated at the translational level by iron availability. This regulation is achieved by the high-affinity interaction between cytoplasmic mRNA-binding proteins (iron regulatory proteins, IRPs), and mRNA stem-loop structures, known as iron responsive elements (IREs), located in the untranslated regions (UTRs) of the mRNAs.

Onset of cataract in early infancy associated with a 32G-->C transition in the iron responsive element of L-ferritin.

Unlabelled: We describe the onset of cataract in early infancy in a family with hereditary hyperferritinaemia-cataract syndrome. The two probands presented with isolated hyperferritinaemia and had developed cataracts at the age of 18 months. Two members of their family with high ferritin levels (1270-1450 microg/l) had suffered from cataract since childhood.

Anemia and iron overload due to compound heterozygosity for novel ceruloplasmin mutations.

Aceruloplasminemia is a recessive disorder characterized by anemia, iron overload, and neurodegeneration, caused by the absence of ceruloplasmin (Cp), a multicopper oxidase important for iron export. Few patients homozygous for loss of function mutations of the Cp gene have been reported. We describe a 62-year-old white woman with heavy liver iron overload, diabetes, anemia, and neurologic symptoms.

Heparanase expression in human leukemias is restricted to acute myeloid leukemias.

Objective: Matrix metalloproteinases and an endo-beta-D-glucuronidase (heparanase) are enzymes that degrade the protein and carbohydrate constituents of basement membranes, thereby facilitating transendothelial migration of blood-borne cells. Heparanase activity was found to correlate with the metastatic potential of solid tumors. We evaluated heparanase expression, at the levels of gene and protein expression and activity in a variety of leukemias, and compared it with normal hematopoietic cells.