[Mechanisms influencing implantation of the embryo--the last-years' news].

Objective: To summarize recent knowledge concerning mechanisms which influence the implantation of embryo.

Design: Literature-based overview.

Setting: Institute for the Care of Mother and Child, Prague.

[Immunologically conditioned fertility disorders in men--experience of the immunobiological department of the Institute for Maternal and Child Care].

Objective: To provide an overview of the results obtained from the more than ten-year systematic monitoring of the contribution of immunopathological mechanisms to the ethiopathogenesis of fertility disorders in men.

Design: A summarising retrospective study.

Setting: Mother and Child Care Institute, Prague.

[Role of sperm antibodies and cellular autoimmunity to sperm in the pathogenesis of male infertility].

Objective: To test the hypothesis of relationship between sperm pathology and elevated humoral and/or cell-mediated antisperm autoimmunity in male partners from infertile couples.

Design: Analytic study.

Setting: Department of Immunobiology, Institute for the Care of Mother and Child, Prague.

Thrombin and trypsin receptors: the same mechanism of signalling on cellular surfaces.

Proteinase-activated receptors (PARs), ubiquitous surface molecules participating on many biological processes have been recently discovered. Specific receptors for thrombin (PAR-1 and PAR-3) and trypsin (PAR-2) are described in this review. They belong to a family of G protein-coupled receptors activated by amino acid sequence of N-terminal part of bound ligand revealed by site-specific proteolysis.

[Pathogenesis and therapy of multiple sclerosis].

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most frequent serious neurologic diseases. Etiologically, MS involves genetic, viral and other factors. The key pathogenic mechanisms reside in the autoimmune reaction of activated CD4+ T lymphocytes crossing the haematoencephalic barrier and attacking different epitopes of the basic protein and proteolipid of myelin sheaths.

[Practical results of monitoring pregnancy in women with systemic lupus erythematosus].

Background: The authors dealt with the urgent problem under what conditions it is possible to achieve in a woman with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or another collagenosis, or secondary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) a favourable outcome of pregnancy and the delivery of a healthy infant.

Methods And Results: The investigation comprised 23 women incl. 20 with SLE, two with the mixed form of a diffuse connective tissue disease (MCTD) and one with Sjögren's syndrome of the primary type.

[Systemic enzyme therapy].

The paper summarizes the hitherto knowledge concerning the absorption of perorally administered enzymes in the digestive tract. After the transport through the intestinal wall the enzymes are protected against immunity recognition and they reach the affected regions via blood and lymphatic routes. A survey of enzymes taken into consideration and the essence of their action are presented.

[Systemic enzyme therapy: problems of resorption of enzyme macromolecules].

Systemic enzyme therapy represents a special therapeutic approach consisting in the oral application of high doses of hydrolytic animal and plant enzyme combinations. The originally empirical method was by detailed experimental analyses and successful clinical studies transformed into a widely appreciated therapeutic method of various pathologic processes. In spite of this fact systemic enzyme therapy has been repeatedly questioned by referring to an almost hundred year old dogma claiming the unabsorbality of enzymes in the macromolecular form.

[Systemic enzyme therapy in diseases of the vascular system].

The treatment of autoimmune and immune complex diseases of the vascular bed consists--similarly as of immunopathologic processes of other systems--in the use of risky immunosuppressive agents and antiinflammatory as well as symptomatic therapy. In the article the author informs about the possibility to use in these indications (and in addition also in other angiologic diseases) the systemic enzyme therapy, residing in the oral application of high-dosed combinations of several animal and plant proteolytic enzymes. About four tens years of positive medical empirical experience have been supported by a concentrated sophisticated research and approximately 150 clinical studies according to GCP.

Correlation of asthenozoospermia with increased antisperm cell-mediated immunity in men from infertile couples.

To investigate whether cell-mediated immunity (CMI) against sperm and/or antisperm circulating antibodies are associated with poor semen quality, a leukocyte migration inhibition factor (LMIF) assay and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were performed in groups of men from infertile couples, men from fertile couples and sperm donors. Twenty-five of 102 men (25%) revealed positive CMI against sperm and 10 (10%) had positive antisperm antibody titers in their sera. Fifteen of 28 asthenozoospermic men (53%) from infertile couples revealed positive antisperm CMI.

Outlooks of systemic enzyme therapy in rheumatoid arthritis and other immunopathological diseases.

Systemic enzyme therapy (SET) represents a specific therapeutic approach consisting in peroral application of blends of animal and plant hydrolytic enzymes. A significant part of the swallowed enzymes (about 25%) is resorbed in the intestine in functionally active form. After being complexed with natural antiproteases, enzymes set concentrated in wounds, inflammation sites and immunopathological foci.

Regulatory role of T lymphocytes and NK cells in tumor allograft development.

In the present study, the respective roles of T cells and their subpopulations as well as of NK (natural killer) cells in antitumor immune responses were followed using the SaI (H-2a) allograft model. The development of this tumor in B10 (H-2b) mice was evaluated after pretreatment of the recipients with xenogeneic antithymocyte serum (ATS). Anti-Thy 1.

[Cell-mediated immune reactivity to sperm in disorders of human reproduction].

Besides the pathological anti-sperm humoral immunity, pathological anti-sperm cell-mediated immunity is considered as a crucial facet of the disturbances of human reproduction (male and female infertility, recurrent abortions, endometriosis, late EPH gestosis, fetal hypotrophy). A precise and objective method is designed, based on a one-step agarose Leukocyte Migration Inhibition Factor assay. The migration areas are evaluated by a computer-assisted image analysis system.

[Dynamics of the distribution of lymphocyte subpopulations in the human menstrual corpus luteum].

Recent evidence suggests that immunoendocrine interactions play a definitive role during development and regression of the human menstrual corpus luteum (hmCL). We studied the distribution of immune cells within individual structures of hmCL during various stages of its development. Immunoperoxidase-stained ultra-thin frozen sections were evaluated, using light microscopy fitted with an image analysis system.

[Systemic lupus erythematosus and pregnancy. Present status].

The authors summarize contemporary views on the relationship between pregnancy and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in women of reproductive age. It is known that pregnancy influences in a marked way the basic disease and conversely the disease has an impact on the course of pregnancy. Risks ensuing from these in errelations for women--mothers with SLE and the foetus are exacerbation (flare-up) of the basic disease, loss of the foetus and damage of the foetus by so-called "lupus neonatorum" with skin symptoms and complete cardiac A-V block.

A quantitative objective method for the evaluation of anti-sperm cell-mediated immunity in humans.

Anti-sperm cell-mediated immunity (CMI) is considered as a crucial facet of infertility in patients of both sexes. A precise and objective method is designed, based on a one-step agarose leukocyte migration inhibition factor (LMIF) assay. The migration areas are evaluated by a computer-assisted image analysis system.

Development and distribution of the white blood cells within various structures of the human menstrual corpus luteum examined using an image analysis system.

Problem: Emerging evidences suggest that immunoendocrine interactions play definitive roles during development and regression of the human menstrual corpus luteum (hmCL). We have studied the distribution of immune cells within individual structures of hmCL during various stages of its development.

Method: Immunoperoxidase-stained ultra-thin frozen sections were evaluated using light microscopy fitted with an image analysis system.

Immunology and immunopathology of reproduction.

This review is dealing with the roles of the immune system in the development and functions of the male and female reproductive systems. Further, it describes the topical views on the roles of immunopathologic events and mechanisms involved in the male and female infertility, recurrent abortions, endometriosis, EPH gestosis and disorders of fetal development. Particular attention is paid to the complicated immunological cross-talk and interplay between the mother and its offspring, including the active role played by the placenta and mainly the trophoblast tissue, in the course of gestation.

[Comparison of the immunomodulating properties of the cyclosporin Sandimmune (Sandoz) with the newly developed Consupren (Galena)].

An experimental comparative investigation provided evidence of identical immunomodulating properties of the Swiss cyclosporin A of Sandoz Company (Sandimmune) and the Czechoslovak cyclosporin of Galena Company (Consupren). Both preparations administered by the oral route to mice in low doses stimulated the reaction of the late hypersensitivity and in higher doses they inhibited markedly this reaction. Immunostimulation was also observed when influencing the host's reaction against the graft by low doses of the substance.

Bacterial endotoxins: comparison of mitogenic, polyclonal, antibody-inducing and toxicity activities.

The mitogenic effects on mouse spleen lymphocytes were determined in a large series of commercially available and laboratory-prepared lipopolysaccharides (LPS) obtained from Escherichia, Salmonella, Serratia and Shigella species; part of these LPS preparations was chemically modified prior to testing. In order to establish whether the degree of mitogenic activity corresponds with other biological effects of these preparations, polyclonal activity, capability to induce specific antibody formation and toxicity were determined for selected LPS's with different mitogenic effects. Some of the detoxication procedures used succeeded in reducing the toxicity of LPS while preserving its high mitogenic activitione of the Fe-detoxified preparations of LPS (from the R-form of Shigella dysenteriae serovar 1) exhibited a medium-degree efficacy in all parameters studied.

Functional heterogeneity of Sarcoma I cells in transplantation experiments.

Cell suspensions prepared from Sarcoma I (SaI) allografts at various stages of development in C57BL10/ScSn (B10) mice immunosuppressed with xenogeneic antithymocyte serum (ATS) were adoptively transferred into secondary syngeneic (A/Ph) and allogeneic (B10) recipients. In the syngeneic recipients, a gradual decrease in the tumorigenic capacity of transferred suspensions was proved, while in the allogeneic recipients the tumorigenic activity was proved in early and late periods. The suspensions from the period of both permanently and temporarily regressing tumors showed a suppressed growth capacity in syngeneic and immunosuppressed allogeneic recipients.

Preclinical screening and analysis of the immunotoxic and immunomodulatory activity using a multiple immunoassay (MIA) in mice.

Screening and analysis of immunotoxic and immunomodulatory activity has become an integral component in preclinical studies of pharmaceuticals and xenobiotics. In an attempt to replace laborious and expensive batteries of assays used at present we developed a multiple immunoassay (MIA) enabling the determination, in a single mouse, of: the weight of the thymus, spleen and a group of lymph nodes; delayed type hypersensitivity and antibody response to SRBC; phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages and the responsiveness of spleen lymphocytes to "T" (PHA, ConA) and "B" (LPS) mitogens in vitro. The MIA responsiveness to two prototype immunostimulators (Thymostimulin and Listeria factor Ei) was tested at two time periods after antigenic stimulation, not only in normal mice, but also in animals with selectively depressed T-systems (anti-Thy1.