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We had reported that the rate of non-specific reaction in measurement of (1-->3)-beta-D-glucan was decreased by improvement of the alkaline pretreatment reagent of Fungitec G-test MK (MK assay). To compare the clinical usefulness between conventional MK assay and new MK assay using improved alkaline pretreatment reagent, 121 plasma samples were tested. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive values (NPV) in conventional MK assay were 91.7%, 85.3%, 44.0% and 98.8%, respectively. Those in new MK assay were 75.0%, 91.6%, 52.9% and 96.7%, respectively. On the other hand, area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis in conventional and new MK assay was 0.9175 and 0.9123 without a significant difference. It has been recognized that the sensitivity in conventional MK assay is higher than those in other beta-glucan assays. Then, the specificity of new MK assay was improved by using improved alkaline pretreatment reagent, without decreasing the sensitivity. Thus, the present findings indicate that the new MK assay is clinically quite useful.

The occurrence of delayed emesis induced 24 h after the administration of a non-platina chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin hydrochloride (doxorubicin), as well as behaviors such as feeding, drinking and defecation were examined in dogs. A single intravenous administration of 2 mg/kg doxorubicin induced emesis within 24 h of administration in some dogs, while delayed emesis was observed 24 h after administration in all dogs. This delayed emesis emerged strongly at day 3 or 4 and decreased at day 5. Hypophagia, the decreased frequency of drinking and the increased frequency of defecation were induced shortly after delayed emesis. Twenty-four hours after the administration of doxorubicin, a daily dose of 0.3 and 1 mg/kg/day, p.o. azasetron, a 5-HT3 antagonist, was administered for 4 days. Doxorubicin-induced delayed emesis was observed to decrease by about 30 and 50%, respectively. This result suggests that 5-HT3 receptors play a role in the mechanism of delayed emesis. Azasetron was found to improve the increased frequency of defecation, but exerted no obvious effect on hypophagia or on the decreased frequency of drinking. Taken together, we suggest that doxorubicin-induced emesis in dogs is a useful method to study further the mechanisms of delayed emesis and to investigate novel therapeutic agents against delayed emesis.