Effect of halothane on lung carcinoma cells A 549.

The halogenated hydrocarbons, such as halothane, are widely used as anesthetics in clinical practice; however their application is often accompanied with metabolic, cardiovascular and respiratory complications. One of the possible factors for this negative outcome might be the severe toxicity of these agents. In this paper, we investigate in vitro effects of halothane on human lung carcinoma A 549 cells, namely on their cytotoxicity, adhesive properties and metabolic activity.

Cross-reactivity of HLA-B*1801-restricted T-lymphocyte clones with target cells expressing variants of the human cytomegalovirus 72kDa-IE1 protein.

The impact of natural polymorphism in a cytomegalovirus-dominant HLA-B(*)1801-restricted epitope, IE1(199-206), on the specific responses of T-cell clones was assessed by measuring their cytolytic activity against target cells expressing mutated recombinant IE1 proteins. Our results suggest an in vivo selection of T lymphocytes that cross-react with multiple IE1 variants.