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A certain number of pediatric cancer patients still succumb to relapse following conventional treatment of their malignancies. One of the mechanisms of relapse is escape from immunity. Adoptive cellular immunotherapy with effector cells has the potential to overcome this escape. In adults, the CD3+ CD56+ cell, a cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cell, appears to be a promising effector cell type with the greatest cytotoxicity. This effector cell type may work in children as well. No similar studies with children have been published. We speculated that expanded CD3+ CD56+ cells obtained from pediatric cancer patients during remission would act similarly against various pediatric tumor cell lines; therefore, we undertook the present study to find support for our speculation. This study was undertaken to generate and expand CD3+ CD56+ CIK cells from normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBL) obtained from 6 children with cancer (2 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 2 with large cell lymphoma, and 2 with osteosarcoma) in remission after intensive chemotherapy and to study the cytotoxic activities of these cells against chronic myeloid leukemia cell line K562 t(9;22), 4 pediatric tumor cell lines [infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia RS4 t(4;11), TEL/AML acute lymphoblastic leukemia REH t(12;21), alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma Rh-Cr t(2;13), and Ewing sarcoma EW-Le t(11;22)], and 2 pediatric glioblastoma multiforme cultured cell lines (G74 and G77). CIK cells were generated and expanded in culture medium to which interferon gamma, monoclonal antibody against CD3, and interleukin 2 were added at appropriate times. Cells were counted by flow cytometry. Net lactate dehydrogenase release from target cells incubated with CIK cells was used as an index of CIK cell cytotoxicity against various pediatric tumor cell lines. The results show that after 21 days in culture CD3+ CD56+ CIK cells derived from the 6 pediatric patients accounted for a median of 28.3% of the entire culture (range, 10.7%-36.4%). Before expansion no such cells were found in any of the 6 children. Median lytic activity rates of CIK cells were 45.5% to 64.5%, rates that contrasted drastically to the lytic activity rates of PBL, which were only 8% to 12%. The findings of the present study are encouraging. They provide information for developing adoptive immunotherapy for future clinical trials with pediatric cancer patients, particularly those patients with minimal residual disease after intensive chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation (especially nonmyeloablative transplantation procedures).

Hemoglobin G Makassar was identified in a family of Thai origin, which was found to share identical properties with hemoglobin S in routine hemoglobin separation both by cellulose acetate electrophoresis and cation-exchange HPLC. It is, therefore, subjects with hemoglobin G Makassar and hemoglobin S who may sometimes be mistakenly identified for each other. In this study, identification of hemoglobin G Makassar was achieved by DNA sequence analysis, which revealed a single nucleotide substitution GAG-->GCG at codon 6 of the beta-globin gene. The hemoglobin variant was hemoglobin G Makassar [beta 6:Glu-->Ala]. This is the first report of hemoglobin G Makassar in Thailand.

Short tandem repeats (STRs), that represent an important source of highly polymorphic markers in human genome, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) typing, that its sequences were conserved within the same maternal lineage, facilitated by use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) provide a powerful tool for forensic identification. We report the analysis of 9 STR loci and mtDNA typing of a muscle biopsied sample with 2 months postmortem by comparison with the genotype of the relative. The DNA profile showed common alleles with that of the relative but only 12 from 20 alleles (60%) were identifiable. Then, we performed mt DNA sequencing of the hypervariable region I (HV I) and obtained 100 per cent homology with that of the relative. In conclusion, personal identification can be performed precisely by the data of DNA profile and mtDNA typing compared to the genotype of the relative.

We present application of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based short tandem repeat (STR) system for use in paternity testing. The process involves a single tube multiplex PCR of 9 STR loci on different chromosomes, in conjunction with Amelogenin sex test and internal size standards, followed by using an automated DNA sequencer to detect amplified products. The results showed that this system provided unambiguously reliable results. In addition, the method is useful for routine use in that it is robust and reproducible and provides a reliable means of paternity testing.

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to study 34 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) associated with negative Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome. This report showed evidence of a chimeric BCR/ABL transcript in 18 (52.9%) and 28 (82.4%) cases by first PCR and seminested PCR, respectively. In these BCR/ABL transcript positive cases, the incidence of BCR exon3/ABL exon2 (B3A2) and BCR exon 2/ABL exon2 rearrangement was 25 (89.3%) and 3 (10.7%) cases, respectively. The other 6 Ph negative patients showed no evidence of reciprocal translocation of BCR to chromosome 9. This data demonstrates that seminested PCR is sufficiently sensitive to detect BCR/ABL fusion transcript in Ph chromosome negative CML patients.

Forensic samples that are often degraded and limited in quality cause DNA typing analysis by conventional methods unsuitable. We performed a single tube-multiplex PCR on 9 STR loci (D3S1358, vWA, FGA, TH01, TPOX, CSF1PO, D5S818, D13S317, and D7S820) and the X-Y homologous gene amelogenin of DNA extracted from six week postmortem blood stain and decomposed muscle by using QIAGEN QIAamp blood or tissue procedure. An automated genetic analyzer based on fluorescent dye technology was used to detect STR allele patterns. The DNA profile of blood stain sample obtained a complete and unambiguous pattern, whereas, that of muscle DNA extracted from QIAamp tissue and Chelex plus QIAamp blood protocols showed detected STR alleles for 70 per cent and 50 per cent of all tested alleles, respectively. The degraded muscle DNA could not yield amplified products of large size STR alleles; CSF1PO, D13S317 and D7S820. However, the analysis which relied upon the PCR-based STR polymorphism analysis and automated genetic analyzer system offers an ideal strategy for forensic identification.

We described the successful allogeneic matched sibling bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in a 5-year-old Thai boy in whom osteopetrosis was diagnosed on the basis of anemia, thrombocytopenia, leukoerythroblastosis, sclerotic bone, hepatosplenomegaly, and visual deficit from an encroachment of cranial nerve foramina. The preparative regimen included 4 days of busulfan 4 mg/kg/day, and 4 days of cyclophosphamide 50 mg/kg/day. Complete hematopoietic engraftment and no evidence of graft versus host disease were shown after BMT. Complete hematologic findings were corrected. His hematopoietic chimerism was changed to that of his donor. Post BMT, he has no hepatosplenomegaly. His bone radiographic findings revealed normal after BMT. Bone marrow biopsy showed normalized bone and bone marrow matrix. However, his vision remained impaired. We believe that this is the first case of successful bone marrow transplantation in an osteopetrosis patient in Thailand.

A molecular cytogenetic method consisting of chromosome microdissection and subsequent reverse/forward chromosome painting is a powerful tool to identify chromosome abnormalities of unknown origin. We present 4 cases of chromosome structural abnormalities whose origins were ascertained by this method. In one MCA/MR patient with an add(5q)chromosome, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), using probes generated from a microdissected additional segment of the add(5q) chromosome and then from a distal region of normal chromosome 5, confirmed that the patient had a tandem duplication for a 5q35-qter segment. Similarly, we ascertained that an additional segment of an add(3p) chromosome in another MCA/MR patient had been derived from a 7q32-qter segment. In a woman with a history of successive spontaneous abortions and with a minute marker chromosome, painting using microdissected probes from the whole marker chromosome revealed that it was i(15)(p10) or psu dic(15;15)(q11;q11). Likewise, a marker observed in a fetus was a ring chromosome derived from the paracentromeric region of chromosome 19. We emphasize the value of the microdissection-based chromosome painting method in the identification of unknown chromosomes, especially for marker chromosomes. The method may contribute to a collection of data among patients with similar or identical chromosome abnormalities, which may lead to a better clinical syndrome delineation.

The BCR/ABL fusion gene in 31 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) was detected by RT/PCR. In 18 cases of Ph' positive patients, 13 had BCR 3/ABL II rearrangement, 1 had BCR 2/ABL II rearrangement and 4 had both rearrangements. One case with complex translocation: 46,XY,t(9;9;22), had BCR 3/ABL II rearrangement. In 8 cases of Ph' negative patients, 4 had BCR 3/ABL II rearrangement, 3 had both rearrangements while 1 had no BCR/ABL rearrangement. Interestingly, in 4 patients who had no cytogenetic result, we could observe BCR 3/ABL II rearrangement in 3 cases and both rearrangements in 1 case. The results suggest that this procedure is sensitive and independent of the presence or absence of an identifiable Ph' chromosome.