Search

Thymoma is one of the most common solid tumors in the mediastinum. Because there is no typical cell line for human thymoma, the development and use of molecular‐based therapy for thymoma will require detailed molecular‐genetic analysis of patients' tissues. Recent reports showed that genetic aberrations in thymoma were most frequently seen in chromosome 6q regions. We investigated the use of oligonucleotide arrays to monitor in vivoexpression levels of genes in chromosome 6 regions in early‐(stage I or II) and late‐ (stage IVa) stage thymoma tissues from patients. These in vivogene expression profiles were verified by real‐time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) using LightCycler for 48 thymoma patients and sandwich ELISA for 33 thymoma patients. Using both methods, a candidate gene was identified which was overexpressed in stage IV thymoma. This was a known glycosylphosphatidyl inositol (GPI)‐anchored protein (GPI‐80), which is highly homologous with Vanin‐1, a mouse thymus homing protein. Serum level of GPI‐80 was confirmed to be elevated in stage IV thymoma compared with in stage I thymoma by using sandwich ELISA. The combined use of oligonucleotide microarray, real‐time RT‐PCR, and ELISA analyses provides a powerful new approach to elucidate the in vivomolecular events surrounding the development and progression of thymoma.

Infusion of ethanol or phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) into the perfused rat liver immediately produces O 2−which was detected directly by infusion of a Cypridinaluciferin analogue, MCLA as a chemiluminescence reagent. The MCLA photon emission was inhibitable by SOD. Generation of O 2−in the liver was further verified by nitroblue tetrazolium, formazan precipitate formation. Ethanol-induced O 2−generation was unaffected by gadolinium chloride (GdCl 3), an inhibitor of kupffer cells, while PMA induced O 2−generation was completely abolished by GdCl 3, Since PMA is a known stimulator of phagocytic cells including Kupffer cells, the results indicate, for the first time that ethanol stimulates a non-Kupffer cell population, probably liver sinusoid endothelial cell to produce O 2−

The antigen structure of a mouse monoclonal antibody, GOM-2, established by immunization with KATO-III human gastric cancer cells, was examined. GOM-2 reactive glycolipids were prepared from KATO-III cells and treated with endoglycoceramidase. Structural studies of ten GOM-2 reactive oligosaccharides by a combination of glycosidase digestions, methylation, and affinity chromatography on anUlex europeusagglutinin I (UEA-I) column revealed that nine of them had a Y-related B-active difucosylated determinant (B-Ley) and one had a B-active determinant. Affinity chromatography of the purified and modified oligosaccharides on an immobilized GOM-2 column demonstrated that GOM-2 has a novel binding specificity; it binds tightly to the biantennary structure carrying the B-Leydeterminant at the termini or the branched structure carrying the B-Leystructure at two nonreducing termini.

Summary Ley is a carbohydrate determinant of membrane glycoconjugates and is expressed in some tumor and embryonic cells. On T lymphocytes, it is known that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected human lymphocyte T-cell lines express elevated Ley antigen and AIDS patients show the highest Ley expression in T lymphocytes at lower CD4/CD8 ratio. Later, a comparative elevation of Ley expression on T-cell subsets has been noticed to be mainly present in patients with viral diseases, such as acute and chronic hepatitis, implying an association of the highest Ley expression with viral infection. We found that Ley antigen was most expressed in both CD4+ and CD8+ subsets of peripheral T lymphocytes in hospitalized schizophrenic patients. On the other hand, atypical lymphocytes with stimulated morphology are known to appear in the blood circulation of schizophrenic patients. Similar atypical lymphocytes have also been described in viral and autoimmune diseases. Two possibilities have been discussed: viral association in the pathology in some schizophrenic patients; and immunological abnormalities including environmental effects under hospitalization on immune status, since normal controls (staff in psychiatric hospitals) showed higher Ley expression than normal controls under non-psychiatric circumstances.

Infusion of ethanol or phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) into the perfused rat liver immediately produces O2−which was detected directly by infusion of a Cypridinaluciferin analogue, MCLA as a chemiluminescence reagent. The MCLA photon emission was inhibitable by SOD. Generation of O2−in the liver was further verified by nitroblue tetrazolium, formazan precipitate formation. Ethanol‐induced O2−generation was unaffected by gadolinium chloride (GdCl3), an inhibitor of kupffer cells, while PMA induced O2−generation was completely abolished by GdCl3, Since PMA is a known stimulator of phagocytic cells including Kupffer cells, the results indicate, for the first time that ethanol stimulates a non‐Kupffer cell population, probably liver sinusoid endothelial cell to produce O2−

Skin renewal is a typical example of the active participation of a cell in its own death process. Cells arising from mitotic activity in the stratum germinativum of the epidermis continuously migrate upwards to the stratum corneum, where dead cells are eventually desquamated. Recent studies have suggested that apoptosis is involved in the dynamic process of skin renewal. However, this still remains to be further elucidated. In this paper, we investigated the involvement of apoptosis in the skin renewal process. Changes in the morphology of cells in different epidermal layers were compared with histochemical analyses of the extent of DNA fragmentation, as determined by nick end-labelling, and of the reactivities to a monoclonal antibody directed to Ley-antigen, difucosylated type 2 chain determinant, which has a close association with apoptosis, and to a monoclonal antibody directed to the proliferating cell nuclear antigen. The results show that apoptosis proceeds concomitantly with cell movement in the epidermis. It seems likely that commitment of a cell to death by apoptosis occurs in the epidermal tissue immediately after completion of cell proliferation, and that Ley-antigen expression may be involved in the entire apoptotic process including this early event.