S100 protein serum levels in cutaneous malignant melanoma.

We investigated the utility of serum S100 determined by means of immunoradiometric assay in a cohort of 438 patients affected by cutaneous melanoma (126 untreated and 312 previously treated). Using 0.2 microg/l cut-off value, determined in 134 healthy blood donors, the sensitivity was 4.

Association between longevity and allelic forms of human leukocyte antigens (HLA): population study of aged Italian human subjects.

Several arguments support the idea of a link between longevity and heredity, both in humans and in experimental animals. We have therefore investigated the possibility of an association between the human leukocyte antigens (HLA) and longevity in two groups of Italian subjects: 108 healthy subjects over 85 years old, and 749 healthy blood donors (controls). Only four antigens showed a higher frequency in the elder group: HLA-A31(19), B7, Cw7 and DQ1.

Lower frequency of sister chromatid exchanges and altered frequency of HLA B-region alleles among individuals with sporadic dysplastic nevi.

Sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) were analyzed in peripheral blood lymphocytes of 24 individuals, following diagnosis, and prior to surgical removal, of a sporadic dysplastic nevus (DN). Lower SCE values and variability were found in 23 sporadic DN individuals compared with controls (2.52 +/- 0.

Screening for mutations in exon 11 of the BRCA1 gene in 70 Italian breast and ovarian cancer patients by protein truncation test.

The most common mutations in the familial breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 are frameshift and nonsense mutations, which lead to the synthesis of truncated proteins. On this ground, we have analysed BRCA1 exon 11, which includes about 61% of coding region, in germline DNA from 70 Italian breast and/or ovarian cancer patients, using the protein truncation test (PTT). BRCA1 mutations were identified in nine of 29 (approximately 31%) patients with a family history of cancer and in three of 41 (approximately 7%) women with early-onset breast carcinomas, and were subsequently characterized by sequence analysis.

Sharing at the major histocompatibility complex affects the secondary sex ratio in differing ways.

We analysed the effect of HLA loci on the secondary sex ratio, and investigated whether allele sharing between parents and between mother and child, or child homozygosity, affected the viability of male embryos, which are generally less resistant to unfavourable conditions during pregnancy. The sharing conditions at the B and DR loci showed significantly differing effects: HLA-B seemed to favour female births, while, in pregnancies subsequent to the first, HLA-DR seemed to favour male births. Both HLA-B and DR loci seemed to work through immunological mechanisms.