Use of diathermy for weeding heterogeneous tissue cultures.

Cultures generated from tissues consisting of multiple types of cells are often heterogeneous. Unless the cell type of interest has or can be given some selective growth advantage it may be overgrown by other cells. While developing techniques for the tissue culture of microvascular endothelial cells we evaluated an electrosurgical generator (diathermy) to selectively kill nonendothelial cells.

Female marrow donors increase the risk of acute graft-versus-host disease: effect of donor age and parity and analysis of cell subpopulations in the donor marrow inoculum.

We evaluated 27 factors for their influence on acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in 40 recipients of HLA-identical sibling marrow transplants. These factors included the doses of mononuclear cell subpopulations present in the donor marrow inoculum quantitated using a panel of monoclonal antibodies. Female donors were associated with increased severity of acute GVHD, and the older the female donor the greater this effect.

Intravenous pulse methylprednisolone therapy in severe inflammatory eye disease.

Seventeen patients with severe ocular inflammatory disease were treated with intermittent pulse doses of intravenous methylprednisolone. There were five patients with chronic posterior uveitis, five with retinal vasculitis, three with scleritis, two with chronic anterior uveitis, one with pars planitis, and one with Mooren's ulcer. A standard protocol of intravenous administration of methylprednisolone was followed.

Immunological abnormalities in patients with untreated retinal vasculitis.

Peripheral blood immunological features were assessed in 21 patients with clinical and angiographic evidence of retinal vasculitis (RV). Abnormalities of humoral and cellular immunity were frequent in this group of patients. Lymphopenia was the most common immunological abnormality, being present in 76% of patients at presentation (p less than 0.

A fluorescence NK assay using flow cytometry.

A flow cytometric NK assay was developed in which the K562 targets were labelled with the fluorogenic substrate, carboxyfluorescein diacetate (c'FDA). This new assay compared favourably with results obtained using the conventional 51Cr-release assay. c'FDA was not toxic to target cells and did not inhibit lysis.

Chlamydial antibody crossreactivity with peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with ankylosing spondylitis: the role of HLA B27.

We have previously reported the association of Chlamydia trachomatis with HLA B27+ related diseases. To investigate the possibility that chlamydial antibodies serve to localize the immune response in such diseases, we examined the crossreactivity of chlamydial antibodies (rabbit anti-D and anti-L2 serotypes) with peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and anterior uveitis (AU) and with human and bovine ocular tissue and cells in culture. Our results indicate a significantly increased percentage binding of chlamydial antibody (D serotype) to the mononuclear cells of HLA B27+ patients with AS when compared with HLA B27- patients with AS (12.

Human dermal microvascular endothelial cells: an improved method for tissue culture and a description of some singular properties in culture.

Tissue culture of human large vessel endothelium is now routine in many laboratories but tissue culture of human microvascular endothelium remains a difficult procedure, preventing study of features of endothelial function that may be peculiar to the microvasculature. This report describes an improved method for tissue culture of human dermal microvascular endothelium derived from foreskin. The method is rapid, reproducible, avoids contamination with nonendothelial cells, and does not require the use of a tumor-conditioned medium.

Decreased chemiluminescent associated phagocytic response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to Chlamydia trachomatis in patients with HLA-B27+ anterior uveitis.

The chemiluminescent (CL) associated phagocytic response of peripheral blood monocytes to two serovars of Chlamydia trachomatis, Shigella flexneri and zymosan was assessed in a group of 26 patients with anterior uveitis (AU). HLA-B27+ patients with AU, when compared to HLA-B27- patients with AU and appropriate controls, had a significantly decreased CL response to C. trachomatis but no difference between groups in the response to S.

Suppression of IgE synthesis in vitro by allogeneic T cells from atopic and non-atopic subjects.

The role of T cells in the regulation of IgE synthesis by human PBMC was studied. PBMC or separated and recombined populations of T and B cells from both normal and atopic donors were cultured for 10 days with and without cycloheximide. IgE and IgG synthesis were determined by specific RIA.

Retinal vasculitis associated with HLA DR4. Brief definitive report.

Inflammation of retinal blood vessels may be associated with a variety of systemic immune diseases. Despite the fact that a number of immunological abnormalities have been reported in patients with retinal vasculitis (RV), previous studies have failed to demonstrate an immunogenetic predisposition to this disease. HLA A, B, and DR locus typing of 25 patients (14 females) with well-characterized RV revealed an increased incidence of HLA DR4 (corrected p value = 0.

Alpha 1 antitrypsin serum levels and phenotypes in patients with retinal vasculitis.

alpha 1 antitrypsin is an important immunoregulatory protein, the serum level of which is genetically determined. Deficient phenotypes of this ubiquitous protease inhibitor are associated with a variety of inflammatory diseases including anterior uveitis. In order to investigate the role of this protease inhibitor in the pathogenesis of retinal vasculitis (RV) 25 patients were investigated.

The role of alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency in the pathogenesis of immune disorders.

The association between alpha 1-antitrypsin (alpha 1-AT) deficiency and a number of immune mediated diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, anterior uveitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and asthma suggests that alpha 1-AT may be important not only as an anti-inflammatory protein but also as an immune regulator. That the relationship between decreased amounts of this inhibitor and these diseases is causal is suggested by both some of its physical properties and evidence indicating it is able to modulate immune function. alpha 1-Antitrypsin has a high plasma concentration, very broad range of inhibitory activity and is an acute phase reactant.

Scleritis and the spectrum of external inflammatory eye disease.

Scleritis, episcleritis and Mooren's ulcer form a poorly understood spectrum of inflammatory syndromes involving the ocular surface. Their pathogenesis is thought to be a vasculitis and may be related to immune complex deposition, as these syndromes are often associated with systemic diseases which are assumed to be vasculitic in aetiology. Scleritis and Mooren's ulcer are amongst the most severe external inflammatory diseases, often causing extensive damage to the sclera and cornea.

Episodic secretion of melatonin in pre- and postpubertal girls and boys.

The concentration of melatonin was determined in serum samples obtained at 15-min intervals during a 4-h period from seven normal girls, 9.5-16.5 yr of age, and eight normal boys, 9.

Acute AIDS retrovirus infection. Definition of a clinical illness associated with seroconversion.

In the course of a prospective immunoepidemiological study of homosexual men in Sydney, seroconversion to the AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV) was observed in 12 subjects. Review of the clinical files defined an acute infectious-mononucleosis-like illness in 11 subjects. The illness was of sudden onset, lasted from 3 to 14 days, and was associated with fevers, sweats, malaise, lethargy, anorexia, nausea, myalgia, arthralgia, headaches, sore throat, diarrhoea, generalised lymphadenopathy, a macular erythematous truncal eruption, and thrombocytopenia.

The chemiluminescence response of normal human leukocytes to chlamydia trachomatis.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the phagocytic response of normal human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) and monocytes (MN) to eight serotypes of C trachomatis (B,C,D,E,F,I,J, and L2) using a chemiluminescence (CL) assay, with luminal and lucigenin as amplifiers. The magnitude of the phagocytic cell CL response was proportional to the phagocyte-to-chlamydiae ratio, with a poor CL response detected at a ratio of 1:125 and progressively larger CL responses up to ratios of 1:50,000. The durations of the CL responses to all chlamydiae serotypes tested were considerably longer than that for zymosan.