Preclinical development of hybrid cell vaccines for multiple myeloma.

Immunotherapy may provide alternative or supplementary treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). We propose that hybrid cells, formed by fusing professional antigen-presenting cells with malignant plasma cells, would induce immune responses capable of mediating tumour regression. The human B-lymphoblastoid cell line, HMy2, was fused in vitro with CD138+ bead-separated myeloma plasma cells from five patients with MM.

A comparison of prenatal versus postnatal karyotyping for the investigation of intrauterine fetal death after the first trimester of pregnancy.

Introduction: Aneuploidy is an important cause of intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) after the first trimester. Determination of the fetal karyotype of these pregnancies is commonly done in most units from solid tissues. Results from such techniques are disappointing.