Intravenous immunoglobulin inhibits IgE production in human B lymphocytes.

Background: Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is commonly used as both an immune-enhancing and immune-modulating agent. Treatment with high doses of IVIG diminishes IgE secretion in patients with severe steroid-dependent asthma.

Objective: We studied the action of IVIG on IgE production in highly purified B lymphocytes stimulated without additional T cells to determine the action of IVIG on B lymphocytes.

Glucocorticoid receptor mRNA and protein in fetal rat lung in vivo: modulation by glucocorticoid and androgen.

Pulmonary glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is essential to timely preparation for the onset of breathing air at birth. We have previously used primary culture of late-gestation fetal rat lung cells to demonstrate differential regulation of GR by glucocorticoid depending on cell type. In this study, we hypothesized that the action of glucocorticoid on GR mRNA expression and protein elaboration in lung cells might be modulated by interactions present in vivo but not in primary culture.

Sex hormones regulate CFTR in developing fetal rat lung epithelial cells.

Sex hormones modulate two normal processes of late-gestation mammalian lung development: the onset of augmented production of surfactant phospholipids and the loss of mesenchymal cells. As prenatal lung development advances, epithelial chloride secretory pathways diminish as opposing sodium absorptive pathways increase in expression. We hypothesized that sex hormones may influence both the gene expression and functional activity of the chloride channel known as the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in fetal lung epithelium.

DNA methyltransferase in normal and Dnmtn/Dnmtn mouse embryos.

The mouse genome experiences a large decrease in net 5-methylcytosine between fertilization and implantation; de novo methylation brings 5-methylcytosine to adult somatic cell levels between implantation and gastrulation. Very little is known of the regulation of demethylation or de novo methylation. Levels of the one known form of DNA methyltransferase are very high in early embryos, but the enzyme is localized to the cytoplasm during most of preimplantation development.

Differential regulation of glucocorticoid receptor expression by ligand in fetal rat lung cells.

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) mediates glucocorticoid stimulation of surfactant production by fetal mammalian lung. In many other tissues, glucorticoids decrease expression of GR, thereby reducing responsiveness to these hormones. We therefore determined whether there is a similar effect of exogenous glucocorticoids on GR in fetal rat whole lung, and in the principal cell types involved in the stimulation of surfactant, the fibroblasts and the epithelial cells.

Brief report: killer cell defect and persistent immunological abnormalities in two patients with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection.

Two members of a family have manifested a syndrome of chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. A father and his daughter suffered prolonged or recurrent mononucleosis, with splenomegaly, anemia, and intermittent fever; persistent immunological abnormalities included defective natural killer (NK) cytotoxicity, inverted CD4/CD8 ratios, hyper IgG1, high EBV viral capsid antigen (VCA) and early antigen (EA) antibodies, and low or undetectable EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA) antibody titers. The EBV seronegative member of the family was free of these abnormalities.

Lytic, nontransforming Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) from a patient with chronic active EBV infection.

A new wild-type isolate of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was identified in follow-up studies of a case of chronic active EBV infection in an 8-year-old girl who had high titres of antibody to viral capsid antigen and early antigen (EA) (greater than 20 480 and 2560 respectively), persistent splenomegaly and abnormal immunologic features. More than 10 throat washings from this patient failed to transform cord blood lymphocytes (CBL), but at least 7 were able to induce EA in Raji cells. Supernatants from cultures of the lymphoblastoid cell line obtained by in-vitro infection of this patient's leukocytes with the B95-8 strain of EBV revealed a herpesvirus particle when examined by electron microscopy.

A familial syndrome of susceptibility to chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection.

In two members of a family (daughter and father) active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections persisted over periods of 4 and 3 years respectively (possibly 10 years in the father). Both had persistent splenomegaly and occasional bouts of unexplained fever but lived otherwise normal lives. The other members of the family (mother and son) were healthy.