An encephalitic episode in a multiple sclerosis patient with human herpesvirus 6 latent infection.

All the human herpesviruses may cause central nervous system (CNS) diseases, including benign aseptic meningitis or fatal encephalitis. It has recently been stated that human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) may also be neuropathogenic in children after primary infection, while in the adult, cases of fatal encephalitis have been reported only in immune-compromised hosts such as AIDS patients, and in one case of an immunosuppressed bone marrow transplant patient. We describe a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient, carrier of HHV-6 latent infection, who experienced an acute inflammation of the CNS diagnosed as encephalitis.

Tumor-induced changes in host metabolism: a possible marker of neoplastic disease.

A large number of "biologic markers" for cancer have been described, including tumor-associated antigens, ectopic hormones, enzymes, and effects of tumor on the host's metabolism. Although tumors may metabolically differ from each other, they may induce similar derangements in glucose, lipid, and protein metabolism in the host. In particular, changes in carbohydrate metabolism may induce glucose intolerance that may be early and easily detected using an oral glucose tolerance test.

Human herpesvirus-6: a survey of presence and distribution of genomic sequences in normal brain and neuroglial tumors.

In an attempt to study the frequency and distribution of human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) infection both in normal and neoplastic brain tissues in vivo, polymerase chain reaction was used to look for HHV-6 genomes: 1) in samples, obtained at necropsy, from different regions of the brain of immunocompetent adult subjects and of patients who died of AIDS; 2) in the surgical biopsies of a well-characterized series of primary brain tumors of neuroglial origin. HHV-6-specific sequences were identified in six of nine brain samples from immunocompetent subjects, and in four of seven brain samples from AIDS patients. Viral sequences were identified in the specimens derived either from the grey (frontal cortex and basal ganglia) or from the periventricular white matter.

Targeted integration of human herpesvirus 6 in the p arm of chromosome 17 of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vivo.

Out of 64 cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL), 55 cases of Hodgkin's disease (HD) and 31 cases of multiple sclerosis (MS), 2 NHL, 7 HD and 1 MS cases were found positive by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of HHV-6 sequences in pathologic lymph nodes of the lymphomas and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of MS. A further analysis of the PBMCs of the PCR positive cases by standard Southern blot technique revealed only 2 NHL, 3 HD and 1 MS cases as positive, indicating that these six patients have an unusually high viral copy number in the PBMCs. Restriction analysis, carried out using probes representative of different regions of the virus, showed that three cases retain only a deleted portion of the viral genome.

p53 gene point mutations in relation to p53 nuclear protein accumulation in colorectal cancers.

It is known that structural alterations of the p53 tumour suppressor gene cause malignant transformation and tumour progression in colorectal mucosa. In this study, 38 colorectal cancers were analysed for mutations detected in the p53 gene by single-strand conformational polymorphism and DNA sequence analysis, and the results were compared with p53 protein expression detected by immunohistochemistry. A very strict association (P < 0.

Detection of PML-RAR alpha fusion transcript in Ph positive leukemia with acute promyelocytic phenotype lacking the t(15;17) cytogenetic abnormality.

A 39-year-old woman was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) with disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome. The hematologic examination showed a morphologic, cytochemical, and immunophenotypic picture typical of an APL, with a marked leukocytosis and a mixed population of hypergranular and microgranular promyelocytes. The cytogenetic analysis showed a 46,XX,t(9;22) karyotype, without any alterations of chromosomes 15 and 17.

Spontaneous loss of Ph chromosome with maintenance of clonal hemopoiesis in an untreated patient with myeloproliferative disease and a long survival.

The unusual case of myeloproliferative disease described here is characterized by the following features: (1) a clinically completely silent course for 11 years without splenomegaly, marrow fibrosis, or cellular morphologic alterations; (2) the presence, at the onset, of a Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome without DNA breakpoints in the M-bcr region; (3) the spontaneous loss of detectable Ph-positive cells, 5 years after the first finding of leukocytosis, in the absence of any therapy; (4) the maintenance of the clonal nature of hematopoiesis, as revealed by the PGK X-linked inactivation pattern, in the absence of the Ph chromosome; and (5) a biphasic trend in the levels of leukocytes, red cells, and platelets during the years of observation.

Geographic sequence variation of latent membrane protein 1 gene of Epstein-Barr virus in Hodgkin's lymphomas.

To assess the role of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) gene in the development of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), the polymorphism of this gene in EBV isolates from different geographic locations was analyzed. A 497 bp fragment spanning LMP1 gene exons 1 and 2 was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using a primer pair bracketing a Xhol restriction site. PCR products were subjected to Xhol digestion and to DNA sequencing analysis.

Double P53 point mutation in extramedullary blast crisis of chronic myelogenous leukemia.

A patient with Philadelphia-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) evolved in extramedullary blast crisis, was studied for the presence of alterations of the P53 tumor suppressor gene in the different stages of disease progression. No P53 gene aberrations were detected during the chronic and accelerated phases. Two identical missense point mutations, involving codons 249 and 281 and leading to the amino acid substitutions Arg-Ser and Thy-Asp, were identified in cells of an extramedullary mass and then in peripheral blood blast crisis cells.

Detection of human herpesvirus-6 and Epstein-Barr virus genome in childhood Hodgkin's disease.

Two widespread human herpesviruses, the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the Human Herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), have been frequently associated with Hodgkin's Disease (HD) and, recently, it has been observed an HHV-6 transactivation effect on EBV replicative cycle. We studied the presence and the possible association between EBV and HHV-6 in childhood HD cases, nodular sclerosis subtype. We analyzed formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded lymph nodes from 15 cases by PCR for HHV-6 genome, and by PCR and in situ hybridization (ISH) for EBV genome.

[A proposal for the use of tridimensional reconstruction in oncology to better assess tumor stage and response to therapy].

Besides radiation therapy, diagnostic imaging has always been considered the main medical application of three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction. On the contrary, our study focused mainly on the use of 3D reconstruction for both spatial characterization and morphometric evaluation of the reconstructed objects. We aimed at assisting physicians to solve clinical and therapeutic problems.