Necrotizing myelopathy associated with hepatocellular carcinoma.

A 43-year-old Japanese male with hepatocellular carcinoma suddenly developed paraplegia. The spinal cord signs first progressed rapidly but then gradually subsided. The patient died of hepatic failure ten months later.

Effect of human G-CSF on clonogenic cells in acute myeloblastic leukemia.

The effects of purified human native granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) on the growth of clonogenic leukemic blast cells from 10 Japanese patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) were studied, using an in vitro leukemic blast colony assay. The clonogenic leukemic blast cells from six patients with AML were stimulated to form colonies in viscous medium in vitro by the addition of 100 ng/ml G-CSF. The possibility that G-CSF may be a leukemic blast growth factor warrants further attention.

Characterization of a low-molecular-weight growth inhibitor formed by density-inhibited, tumorigenic V79 Chinese hamster cells.

A novel type of low-molecular-weight growth-inhibitory factor responsible for the density inhibition of tumorigenic V79 Chinese hamster cells has been purified, if not homogenously, by a series of reverse-phase and gel filtration high-performance liquid chromatography. The factor is an acid-stable, heat-labile substance distinct from antiproliferative nucleoside analogues or polyamines and has a molecular weight of approximately 2000. The biological activity of this inhibitor was enhanced nearly 5-fold by trypsin treatment, thereby suggesting that the inhibitor may be a precursor peptide which becomes an oligopeptide with intense biological activity by proteolysis, or that trypsin treatment allows resultant small molecules to efficiently transfer across the cytoplasmic membrane.

Multipotent hemopoietic progenitor cells in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Hematologic abnormalities in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were studied before treatment, using an in vitro bone marrow progenitor cell assay. In 10 patients with SLE, there was a decrease in the number of multipotent hemopoietic colonies. Multipotent colony formation was suppressed by the addition of T cells from the patients with SLE.

Human Ia-associated invariant chain gene has multiple transcription initiation sites in CLL cells.

We show a northern transfer experiment revealed two mRNA of Ia-associated invariant chain (In) gene in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells which are approximately 1580 and 1440 nucleotides in length. Primer extension experiment shows that less prominent transcript was found to initiate 140 nucleotides upstream from the major cap site. The newly identified cap site was preceded by CG rich sequence but no typical promotor sequence.

Demonstration of three distinct immunological disorders on erythropoiesis in a patient with pure red cell aplasia and autoimmune haemolytic anaemia associated with thymoma.

A patient with pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) and autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA), associated with a thymoma which had already been removed, was studied in order to investigate the pathogenesis of PRCA and AIHA. The autoantibody eluted from the surface of the patient's red blood cells (RBC) reacted with the large E antigen of the Rh complex. Immunoglobulin-G (IgG) purified from the patient's serum suppressed CFU-E and BFU-E but not CFU-GM colony formation in the presence of complement.

Production of hepatocyte stimulating factor of rat Kupffer cells induced by lipopolysaccharide: partial characterization and effects on alpha 2 macroglobulin gene expression in cultured adult rat hepatocytes.

Primary cultured rat Kupffer cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) produced a hepatocyte stimulating factor (HSF), which enhanced the synthesis of acute phase protein, alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M), in adult rat hepatocytes. The Kupffer cell derived-HSF (KC-HSF), enhanced the synthesis of alpha 2M over 100 fold by primary cultured adult rat hepatocytes, in the presence of dexamethasone (Dex). The synthesis of albumin was not stimulated by the factor, even in the presence of Dex.

Haematopoiesis in the aged as studied by in vitro colony assay.

Changes occurring in human haematopoiesis with advancing age were studied using an in vitro haematopoietic colony assay in 22 elderly subjects with unexplained anaemia, and in 15 elderly and 15 young subjects without anaemia. Both elderly groups were found to have significantly lower numbers of bone marrow early erythroid-committed progenitors (BFU-E) than the young controls. The elderly anaemic group also showed significantly lower numbers of granulocyte/macrophage progenitors (CFU-GM) than the young controls.

Stimulatory effects of bestatin on human B-cell colony formation.

Bestatin, (2S, 3R)-3-amino-2-hydroxy-4-phenylbutyryl-L-leucine, is a small molecular immunomodifier. Effects of this compound on human immune function were studied, in vitro, using the human B-cell colony formation technique. B-cell colonies were obtained from enriched B-cell populations placed in conditioned methylcellulose medium containing stimulators and irradiated T-cells as feeders.

Expression of the granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor gene in leukemic blast cells from patients with acute non-lymphocytic leukemia.

Since granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) has been reported to stimulate the proliferation of clonogenic leukemia cells from patients with acute non-lymphocytic leukemia in vitro, the expression of the GM-CSF gene in primary human leukemic blast cells was studied. T-cell-depleted mononuclear cells in freshly drawn peripheral blood from patients with acute non-lymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) were subjected to the study. The expression of the GM-CSF gene was detected by Northern blotting analysis using [32P]GM-CSF as a probe.

Granulocyte-macrophage colony formation in vitro using human non-phagocytic bone marrow cells.

A technique employing silica particles was used to remove cells producing endogenous colony-stimulating factor (CSF) to allow measurement of the level of colony-forming units in culture (CFU-C) in human bone marrow cells. In comparison with the glass-adherence technique, this new approach resulted in a more complete degree of removal of CSF-producing cells and formation of more colonies. This method seems to be useful for performing an accurate assay of exogenous CSF.

Effect of human recombinant granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor and native granulocyte colony-stimulating factor on clonogenic leukemic blast cells.

The effects of human recombinant granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and human native purified granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) on the growth of clonogenic leukemic blast cells from eight Japanese patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia were studied, using an in vitro leukemic blast colony assay. The results showed that GM-CSF stimulated leukemic blast colony formation in all cases examined, whereas G-CSF stimulated colony formation in four of the eight cases. The maximum stimulating activity of GM-CSF on the growth of clonogenic leukemic blast cells was higher than that of G-CSF in the majority of cases, while sometimes GM-CSF and G-CSF worked synergistically.

Synergism of leukemic blast growth factors in medium conditioned by human bladder carcinoma cell line 5637.

Leukemic blast growth factors (LBGFs) are necessary for in vitro growth of clonogenic cells from patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia. As the human bladder carcinoma cell line 5637 had previously been reported to secrete abundant LBGFs into the culture supernatant, the LBGFs in 5637-conditioned medium (5637-CM) were characterized. Measurement of LBGFs was done using an in vitro leukemic blast colony assay in methylcellulose culture.