Endothelial precursors and mature endothelial cells are increased in the peripheral blood of myelodysplastic syndromes.

Increased angiogenesis has been demonstrated to be a significant prognostic factor in many solid tumors. In the oncohematological setting, it has been associated with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), chronic myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoid, and myeloid leukemias. Recently, increased circulating endothelial cells (CECs) have been associated with breast cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

Pharmacogenetic aspects of the use of oral contraceptives and the risk of thrombosis.

Oral contraceptives are currently used by more than 100 million women in developed countries and are a highly efficacious method to prevent undesired pregnancies. However, oral contraceptives are associated with an increased risk of venous and arterial thrombosis, through changes in blood coagulation and fibrinolysis. In order to reduce such complications, the composition of oral contraceptives has changed over the past decades, both for the dose of oestrogen and the type of progestagen.

Kallikrein-kinin system activation in Crohn's disease: differences in intestinal and systemic markers.

Objectives: Observations in experimental models and in human ulcerative colitis suggest that activation of the kallikrein-kinin system plays a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of this study was to assess activation of the plasma and tissue kallikrein-kinin system in Crohn's disease.

Methods: We studied plasma inflammatory and contact system parameters in 36 patients with Crohn's disease and in 36 control subjects with noninflammatory GI diseases.

Post-menopause is the main risk factor for developing isolated pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis.

In scleroderma patients, isolated pulmonary hypertension (PHT) has been associated with selected HLA haplotypes, severe impairment of the diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide and the diagnosis of CREST. Most patients with CREST have a late-age onset of the disease, corresponding to the perimenopausal or postmenopausal period. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to determine the role of post-menopause and of the other known clinical and biological markers in the development of isolated pulmonary hypertension in Italian patients with systemic sclerosis.

Effect of inositol hexaphosphate (IP(6)) on human normal and leukaemic haematopoietic cells.

Inositol hexaphosphate (IP(6)), a naturally polyphosphorylated carbohydrate, has been reported to have significant in vivo and in vitro anticancer activity against numerous tumours, such as colon, prostate, breast, liver and rhabdomyosarcomas. To confirm this activity in haematological malignancies and to characterize some of the mechanisms of IP(6) action, we analysed its effects on human leukaemic cell lines and fresh chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) progenitor cells using a combined cellular and molecular approach. IP(6) had a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect on all of the evaluated cell lines, with accumulation in the G2M phase in two out of five cell lines tested.

The apoptogenic response of human myeloid leukaemia cell lines and of normal and malignant haematopoietic progenitor cells to the proteasome inhibitor PSI.

Degradation of several intracellular proteins involved in cell cycle control and tumour growth is regulated by the ubiquitin-dependent multicatalytic protease complex (proteasome). We report that proteasome inhibitor Z-Ile-Glu(OtBu)-Ala-Leucinal (PSI) was cytotoxic on most human myeloid leukaemia cell lines at IC50 doses ranging from 5 to 25 nmol/l. Additionally, PSI pre-treatment enhanced cytotoxicity by taxol and cisplatinum.

Limitations of the difference between clinic and daytime blood pressure as a surrogate measure of the 'white-coat' effect. Syst-Eur investigators.

Background: The difference between clinic and ambulatory average daytime blood pressures is frequently taken as a surrogate measure of the 'white-coat effect' (i.e. the pressor reaction triggered in the patient by the physician's visit).