A novel canine model of immune thrombocytopenia: has immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) gone to the dogs?

Canine immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is analogous to human ITP, with similar platelet counts and heterogeneity in bleeding phenotype among affected individuals. With a goal of ultimately investigating this bleeding heterogeneity, a canine model of antibody-mediated ITP was developed. Infusion of healthy dogs with 2F9, a murine IgG2a monoclonal antibody to the canine platelet glycoprotein GPIIb (a common target of autoantibodies in ITP) resulted in profound, dose-dependent thrombocytopenia.

Clonal evolution of lymphoblastoid cell lines.

Lymphoblastoid cell lines represent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-immortalized B lymphocytes, which are typically prepared by in vitro culture of normal blood cells. In this study, we evaluated the kinetics of clonal evolution in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) established from five different donors. Immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH) and T-cell receptor gamma (TRG) gene rearrangements were tracked over time using PCR, while EBV clonality was tracked using Southern blot analysis of the viral terminal repeat fragment.

Radiation clastogenesis and cell cycle checkpoint function as functional markers of breast cancer risk.

Background: Familial breast cancer is associated with mutations in several genes (BRCA1, BRCA2, p53, ATM) whose protein products protect against radiation-induced genotoxicity. This study tested whether sporadic breast cancer was associated with constitutive radiation hypersensitivity.

Methods: Blood lymphocytes and EBV-transformed lymphoblasts from patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer and controls without cancer were evaluated for ionizing radiation (IR)-induced chromosomal aberrations and cell cycle delays.