Stimulation of the high-affinity IgE receptor results in the tyrosine phosphorylation of a 60 kD protein which is associated with the protein-tyrosine kinase, Csk.

The protein tyrosine kinase Csk downregulates the activity of the Src family of kinases and has a negative effect on signal transduction through several Src kinase-associated receptors. Because the Src-family kinase Lyn plays a pivotal role in FcepsilonRI-mediated cellular activation, we examined whether Csk is involved in FcepsilonRI signaling events. Using anti-Csk antibodies and recombinant fusion proteins we detected a single tyrosine-phosphorylated protein of 60 kD (herein referred to as 'p60') that associates with the SH2 domain of Csk after stimulation of the FcepsilonRI.

Activation of antiviral protein kinase leads to immunoglobulin E class switching in human B cells.

An epidemiologic association between viral infections and the onset of asthma and allergy has been documented. Also, evidence from animal and human studies has suggested an increase in antigen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) production during viral infections, and elevated levels of IgE are characteristic of human asthma and allergy. Here, we provide molecular evidence for the roles of viral infection and of activation of the antiviral protein kinase (PKR) (double-stranded-RNA [dsRNA]-activated protein kinase) in the induction of IgE class switching.

Interleukin-4 (IL-4) induces phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (p85) dephosphorylation. Implications for the role of SHP-1 in the IL-4-induced signals in human B cells.

Interleukin 4 (IL-4) is a potent cytokine produced by T cells and to a lesser extent by tumor-associated natural killer cells, basophils, and mast cells. IL-4 treatment of T cells and macrophages leads to augmentation of their cytotoxic activity. In human B cells, IL-4 is a potent stimulator of Ig class switching from IgM to IgE.

[Leiomyosarcoma of the inferior vena cava and magnetic resonance imaging].

Venous leiomyosarcomas are rare and predominantly arise in the inferior vena cava (IVC). The clinical findings, often not very suggestive and nonspecific, sometimes precede the diagnosis by several years. According to the literature, leiomyosarcoma of the IVC generally occurs in middle-aged women.

Identification of galectin-3 as a high-affinity binding protein for advanced glycation end products (AGE): a new member of the AGE-receptor complex.

Background: Advanced glycation end products (AGE), the reactive derivatives of nonenzymatic glucose-protein condensation reactions, are implicated in the multiorgan complications of diabetes and aging. An AGE-specific cellular receptor complex (AGE-R) mediating AGE removal as well as multiple biological responses has been identified. By screening an expression library using antibody against a previously identified component of the AGE-R complex p90, a known partial cDNA clone was isolated with homology to galectin-3, a protein of diverse identity, and member of the galectin family.

[False aneurysm of the abdominal aorta of hydatid origin].

The rupture of hydatid cysts into the abdominal aorta is an exceptional and serious complication of the hydatid disease. We report a case of hydatid false-aneurysm of the abdominal aorta, explored by US Doppler, C.T.

Advanced glycosylation endproduct-specific receptors on human and rat T-lymphocytes mediate synthesis of interferon gamma: role in tissue remodeling.

During normal aging and in chronic diabetes the excessive accumulation of reactive glucose-protein or glucose-lipid adducts known as advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGEs) has been shown to induce tissue dysfunction, in part through interaction with AGE-specific receptors on monocyte/macrophages and other cells. Recognizing that circulating lymphocytes trafficking through tissues interact with tissue AGEs, we searched for the expression of AGE-binding sites on peripheral blood T lymphocytes. Resting rat and human T cells bound 125I-AGE-albumin with an affinity of 7.

[Vascular involvements in Behçet disease. Based on 40 patient records].

The authors report about 40 cases of Behçet's disease with vascular involvement, i.e. 32% of a 125 case series.

[Aneurysm in a persistent sciatic artery. Apropos of 2 cases].

Persistent sciatic is a vascular malformation resulting in the embryo from the preferential growth of the ischiatic posterior axis remaining atrophic. We report here two cases of unilateral, complete and incompleted, persistent sciatic arteries, complicated by buttock aneurysm.

[Characterization of hepatic hydatid cysts of pseudotumor form. Scanner versus echography].

The authors report about a series of 38 patients with hepatic cysts (HHC) that had a pseudotumoral form on sonography (type IV in Gharbi's classification), that were explored both with sonography and with CT. While sonography had made the diagnosis of HHC possible in 4 cases out of 38 only, CT easily established this diagnosis in all cases. In addition, the latter technique has demonstrated the various tissue components accounting for the pseudotumoral sonographic image (hydatid sand, parietal calcifications, daughter cysts, intracystic air).

Heat shock proteins can regulate expression of the Tla region-encoded class Ib molecule Qa-1.

T cells recognize foreign antigens in association with the highly polymorphic class I and class II molecules encoded in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). In addition to these highly polymorphic molecules, the murine MHC also encodes, in the Qa/Tla region, several less polymorphic structures referred to as class I-like or class Ib molecules. Although no specific function has been assigned to these molecules, their overall structural similarities to the classical class I molecules and their association with beta 2-microglobulin suggest a role in antigen recognition.

Physical and molecular genetic analysis of Qa-2 antigen expression: multiple factors controlling cell surface levels.

We have examined the surface expression of Qa-2 on lymphocyte subpopulations and on splenocytes from inbred mouse strains by a radioactive binding assay using purified anti-Qa-2 antibodies and antibody fragments (Fab). Quantitative measurements by Scatchard analysis revealed that spleen cells from Qa-2high mice express (4-5) x 10(4) Qa-2 molecules/cell, whereas T lymphocytes have as high as (7-8) x 10(4) molecules/cell. In addition, it was determined that B lymphocytes express (5-6) x 10(3) molecules on their cell surface.

[Echography in tuberculosis of the full abdominal viscera].

109 cases of abdominal tuberculosis are reported and sonographic data are described in 25 cases with renal lesions, 30 cases with ganglionic lesions, 8 cases with hepatic lesions and 6 cases with splenic lesions. The lesions are not specific.

Histone proteins inhibit activation of the interferon-induced protein kinase by binding to double-stranded RNA.

Bulk calf thymus histone proteins, when included in reaction mixtures, inhibit activation of partially purified double-stranded (ds) RNA-dependent protein kinase, and are themselves only poorly phosphorylated. This inhibition of enzyme activation could be overcome by preincubating enzyme with dsRNA, in the absence of ATP, or by increasing the dsRNA concentration to 100 micrograms/ml. Under these conditions histone proteins were actively phosphorylated.

Inhibitory activity for the interferon-induced protein kinase is associated with the reovirus serotype 1 sigma 3 protein.

In this report we demonstrate that reovirus serotype 1-infected cells contain an inhibitor of the interferon-induced, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-dependent protein kinase. We provide evidence that suggests that the virus-encoded sigma 3 protein is likely responsible for this kinase inhibitory activity. We could not detect activation of the dsRNA-dependent protein kinase in extracts prepared from either interferon-treated or untreated reovirus serotype 1-infected mouse L cells under conditions that led to activation of the kinase in extracts prepared from either interferon-treated or untreated, uninfected cells.

[Pulmonary hydatidosis. Contribution of x-ray computed tomography].

33 patients with pulmonary hydatidosis were followed by CT scan imaging. 53 hydatid cysts were found in 31 of them. The remaining two were cases of metastatic hydatidosis, the primary affection was cardiac located with multiple small bilateral cysts.

[An enormous gastro-intestinal hairball (author's transl)].

A case of a gastro-duodenal hairball is reported in a neurotic 19 year old woman. The case is remarkable because of the unusual length of the foreign body and the coexistence of two gastric ulcers which led to partial gastrectomy.