The role of IL-6, IL-8 and MCP-1 and their promoter polymorphisms IL-6 -174GC, IL-8 -251AT and MCP-1 -2518AG in the risk of venous thromboembolism: a case-control study.

Introduction: Cytokines increased the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in some case-control studies, but not in a prospective study. Data concerning the role of cytokines in the risk of VTE are limited. We examined in a case-control study the association of VTE and levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8 and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and assessed whether promoter polymorphisms (IL-6 -174GC, IL-8 -251AT, MCP-1 -2518AG) would affect the thrombotic risk and cytokine levels.

Performance of Platelin LS and dilute Russell's viper venom for the screening of lupus anticoagulant in patients with venous thromboembolism.

Lupus anticoagulant is associated with thrombosis and pregnancy morbidity, and its detection is of major clinical importance. The nature and concentration of phospholipids strongly influence the sensitivity of activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) reagents to lupus anticoagulant. We investigated the ability of Platelin LS, an aPTT reagent, to screen lupus anticoagulant among 94 patients with venous thromboembolism by comparing its performance with the dilute Russell viper venom time (dRVVT).

N-RAS and K-RAS gene mutations in Brazilian patients with multiple myeloma.

Point mutations affecting codons 12, 13 (exon 1) and 61 (exon 2) of the N-RAS gene and codons 12 and 13 (exon 1) of the K-RAS gene are identified in approximately 30.0% and 10.0%, respectively, of multiple myeloma (MM) patients living in the northern hemisphere.

Possible influence of clinical stage and type of treatment in the persistence of residual circulating t(14;18)-positive cells in follicular lymphoma patients.

Many patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) achieve response after treatment but complete remission (CR) rates are very low. Thus the majority of them will relapse, mainly those in advanced stage disease, due to the persistence of residual disease. Therefore, this study had the following aims: to determine the presence of bcl-2/IgH rearrangement in peripheral blood of early and advanced stage FL patients after treatment and to correlate it with their clinical situation at the same moment.

Correlation between histological subtype and type of bcl-2/IgH rearrangement in follicular lymphomas.

The aims of this study were: 1) to identify the type of bcl-2 rearrangement in a Brazilian group of FL patients and 2) to correlate it to clinical features, International Prognostic Index (IPI), histological subtype, response to treatment and clinical outcome. We reviewed the diagnosis of 48 patients with FL and investigated the type of bcl-2 gene rearrangement using DNA from paraffin-embedded tumor samples obtained at the time of diagnosis. In 30 cases, we also obtained consecutive peripheral blood samples to search for the presence of bcl-2/IgH rearrangement.