[New immunoglobulin for treatment of anthrax].

Aim: To experimentally assess activity and safety of anti-anthrax intravenous immunoglobulin manufactured on standard technology.

Materials And Methods: Plasma from selected donors vaccinated with combined anthrax vaccine was tested by enzyme immunoassay. Samples of plasma with increased titer of anti-anthrax antibodies were merged in one manufacturing load and fractionated in ethanol at negative temperature according to standard technology.

Adhesion and signaling mediated by the cytoplasmic tails of leucocyte integrins.

Integrins not only mediate cell adhesion but also contribute to a variety of other cellular processes including proliferation, cytokine production, cytotoxicity and apoptosis. They act as bi-directional signal transducers, mediating signaling from inside-to-outside the cell and from outside-to-inside the cell. Evidence is emerging that signaling through leukocyte integrins (beta 2 and beta 7) is distinct from signaling by the more widely distributed beta 1 integrins.

Cytoplasmic tails of beta 1, beta 2, and beta 7 integrins differentially regulate LFA-1 function in K562 cells.

The beta 2 integrin lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1) mediates activation-dependent adhesion of lymphocytes. To investigate whether lymphocyte-specific elements are essential for LFA-1 function, we expressed LFA-1 in the erythroleukemic cell line K562, which expresses only the integrin very late antigen 5. We observed that LFA-1-expressing K562 cannot bind to intercellular adhesion molecule 1-coated surfaces when stimulated by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), whereas the LFA-1-activating antibody KIM185 markedly enhanced adhesion.

Dual role of the actin cytoskeleton in regulating cell adhesion mediated by the integrin lymphocyte function-associated molecule-1.

Intracellular signals are required to activate the leukocyte-specific adhesion receptor lymphocyte function-associated molecule-1 (LFA-1; CD11a/CD18) to bind its ligand, intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). In this study, we investigated the role of the cytoskeleton in LFA-1 activation and demonstrate that filamentous actin (F-actin) can both enhance and inhibit LFA-1-mediated adhesion, depending on the distribution of LFA-1 on the cell surface. We observed that LFA-1 is already clustered on the cell surface of interleukin-2/phytohemagglutinin-activated lymphocytes.

Competition between lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (CD11a/CD18) and Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18) for binding to intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (CD54).

Both human integrin receptors Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18,CR3)and lymphocyte function-associated antigen (LFA)-1 (CD11a/CD18) have been demonstrated to bind human intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) (CD54). Here we show that LFA-1 and Mac-1 can bind to ICAM-1 in the mouse as well. Interestingly, we observed that binding of murine LFA-1 dominates over Mac-1 for binding to ICAM-1.

Ins and outs of LFA-1.

Leukocyte function-associated molecule 1 (LFA-1) is an integrin that plays a major role in the immune system. Recent findings demonstrate that LFA-1 has a two-way signaling function, mediating cell adhesion and stimulating intracellular processes at the same time. Here, Marijke Lub, Yvette van Kooyk and Carl Figdor discuss the 'inside-out' and 'outside-in' signaling properties of LFA-1, as a prototype leukocyte integrin, in normal and malignant T cells.

[Certain pathogenetic characteristics of a disease in monkeys in infected with the Marburg virus by an airborne route].

Time course of Marburg virus (strain Popp) accumulation and changes in hematological parameters were studied in aerosol infected M.rhesus monkeys. The lungs were the first organ in which the virus was detected after respiratory infection of monkeys.

[The efficacy of the emergency prophylactic and therapeutic actions of immunomodulators in experimental filovirus infections].

The study of the preventive and therapeutic action of some immunomodulators (ridostin, reaferon and polyribonate) used alone and in combinations was conducted on laboratory animals infected aerogenically by Marburg or Ebola virus. It was found that special preventive intranasal and intramuscular administration of ridostin provided protection of the animals infected by Marburg virus (p = 0.1) and an increase in their mean lifespan by 2.

[Clinical-virusological characteristics of disease in guinea pigs, infected by the Marburg virus aerogenically].

Marburg virus (strain Popp) was found to accumulate in various organs of guinea pigs after aerogenic infection. At the initial stage of the infection primary multiplication of the virus took place in the lungs. The presence of the virus in bronchopulmonary washings 2-3 days after infection, leukopenia and hyperthermia 4 days after infection are the earliest virological and clinical signs of disease in aerogenically infected guinea pigs.