Prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in schoolchildren in Athens, Greece. Association of ADHD subtypes with social and academic impairment.

The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and social and academic impairment in 6- to 11-year-old children residents of Athens, Greece. We screened 603 elementary schoolchildren following grades first to sixth. A two-stage screening process was employed including a standardized ADHD test for teachers and the Teacher Report Form (TRF).

Properties and potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells from children with hematologic diseases.

Background: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have become the focus of cellular therapeutics but little is known regarding bone marrow (BM) MSC derived from children. As MSC constitute part of BM stroma, we examined their properties in children with hematologic diseases.

Methods: BM MSC from children with non-malignant hematologic disorders and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were isolated and expanded.

Quantitative assessment of WT1 expression in diagnosis of childhood acute leukemia.

The purpose of this study was to investigate WT1 expression levels in childhood acute leukemia. Bone marrow from 14 children with acute leukemia at diagnosis and from 7 children with solid tumors without bone marrow involvement (control group) was studied. Five of the 14 patients (35.

Quantitative assessment of PRAME expression in diagnosis of childhood acute leukemia.

PRAME is expressed at low levels in normal testes and highly in solid tumor cells and hematological malignancies. The purpose of this study was to investigate PRAME expression levels in children with acute leukemia with real-time PCR analysis. Seventeen children with newly diagnosed or relapsed acute leukemia (11 ALL, 4 AML, 1 acute myeloblastic leukemia secondary to MDS, 1 ALL at relapse) and a control group of seven children were studied.

Viral fusogenic membrane glycoproteins kill solid tumor cells by nonapoptotic mechanisms that promote cross presentation of tumor antigens by dendritic cells.

Expression of viral fusogenic membrane glycoproteins (FMGs) is a potent strategy for antitumor cytotoxic gene therapy in which tumor cells are fused into large multinucleated syncytia. To understand how local cell killing can potentiate activation of antitumor immune responses, we characterized the mechanism of FMG-mediated cell killing. Here, we show that syncytia are highly ordered structures over 24-48 h but then die through processes that, by multiple morphological and biochemical criteria, bear very little resemblance to classical apoptosis.

Enhancing the efficacy of a weak allogeneic melanoma vaccine by viral fusogenic membrane glycoprotein-mediated tumor cell-tumor cell fusion.

We have investigated how to make K1735 cells, a poor allogeneic melanoma vaccine, more effective for protection against B16 in vivo. To promote antigen release in an immunologically effective manner, tumor cells were transfected with a viral fusogenic membrane glycoprotein (vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein), which kills cells through the formation, and degeneration, of large multinucleated syncytia. Vaccines consisting of a 1:1 mix of fusing allogeneic and autologous cells led to dramatic increases in survival of mice in both prophylactic and therapy models, dependent upon T cells, the mechanism of tumor-tumor cell fusion, and the nature of the fusion partner.

Transcriptional control: an essential component of cancer gene therapy strategies?

The therapeutic index of cancer gene therapy approaches will, at least in part, be dictated by the spatial and temporal control of expression of the therapeutic transgenes. Strategies which allow precise control of gene transcription are likely to play a crucial role in the future pre-clinical and clinical development of gene therapy. In this review, we discuss these issues as they relate to tissue and tumor specific promoters.

Heat shock protein 70 induced during tumor cell killing induces Th1 cytokines and targets immature dendritic cell precursors to enhance antigen uptake.

Previously, we reported that killing tumor cells in vivo with the HSV thymidine kinase/ganciclovir system generates potent antitumor immunity, determined in part by the mechanism by which the cells die and by the levels of inducible heat shock protein (hsp) expression induced during the process of cell death. Here, we show that induction of hsp70 expression induces an infiltrate of T cells, macrophages, and predominantly dendritic cells (DCs) into the tumors as well as an intratumoral profile of Th1 cytokine expression (IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, and IL-12) and enhances immunogenicity via a T cell-mediated mechanism. In addition, the protection conferred by hsp70 is both tumor and cell specific.