Studies on mechanism of entry of EB virus into non-B lymphocytes. Establishment of an EB virus-producing human-tupaia hybrid cell line TuH18

With the use of the EB virus-producing lymphoblastoid cell line H18, an attempt was made to infect the monolayer cell culture of nasopharyngeal tissue from the normal tupaia, and an EB virus-producing, human-tupaia hybrid cell line was established. The mechanism of entry of EB virus into cells other than B lymphocytes is discussed in this paper.

Modulation of cell-associated plasminogen activator activity by cocultivation of a stem cell and its tumorigenic descendant

The effect of the presence of one cell type on the plasminogen activator activity of another cell type was studied. The cell types, AC and D, were isolated from a rat neuroblastoma (I. Imada and N. Sueoka, Dev. Biol. 66:97-108, 1978). AC cells are stem cells capable of multipotential differentiation in vitro and have little or no cell-associated plasminogen activator activity. D cells are tumorigenic and have high levels of cell-associated plasminogen activator activity. When AC cells were cocultivated with D cells, the plasminogen activator activity of the D cells was dramatically inhibited. The presence of as few as 1,250 AC cells inhibited 70% of the plasminogen activator activity of 20,000 D cells, as determined by a highly quantitative assay. The amount of inhibition by AC cells was proportional to the number of AC cells present. At increasing numbers of AC cells and a constant number of D cells, the Vmax for the activation of plasminogen proportionately decreased and the Km remained constant, implying that AC cells did not alter the structure or concentration of plasminogen. Inhibition was not mediated by a soluble inhibitor secreted by AC cells. Rather, attachment of AC cells adjacent to D cells, i.e., cell-to-cell contact, seemed to be required for inhibition. The substratum-attached material of AC cells, that which remained on the microwell surface after removal of AC cells with EDTA, inhibited D cell plasminogen activator activity. If plasminogen activator activity is involved in metastasis, then regulation of the plasminogen activator activity of one cell type by another cell type may be involved in determining which cells in a tumor can metastasize and where secondary tumors can arise.

Serologic diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A double-blind study of four EB virus antibodies with evaluation by sequential discrimination

It is generally known that a close relationship exists between Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Recently, patients with early lesions of NPC have been detected in the general population by use of serologic mass survey. Using the double-blind method, we have studied the diagnostic value of the four EBV antibody titers, VCA-IgA, VCA-IgG, EA-IgA and EA-IgG, in four groups of subjects, each consisting of 50 persons: patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC group), patients with cancers other than NPC in the head and neck regions (HNC group), patients with cancers outside of head and neck regions (OC group) and normal individuals (NS group). The results of these four antibodies were evaluated both singularly and together by multivariate sequential discrimination. Taking 1:10 as the criterion of being positive, in the NPC group, the positive rate of VCA-IgA is 88%, the VCA-IgG rate is 100%, the EA-IgA rate is 48% and the EA-IgG rate is 74%. In the non-NPC group, the positive rates of VCA-IgA are as high as 86%-92%, but those of the other antibodies are as low as 0-42%. The positive rates and the geometric mean titers of these four antibodies were all elevated as compared with those in the three non-NPC groups. These differences are statistically significant. VCA-IgG is unimportant in the diagnosis of NPC because of its low specificity. By treating the antibody titers of VCA-IgA, VCA-IgG, EA-IgA and EA-IgG with sequential discrimination, the correlation rate between the serology and pathology of NPC is 88% and the false positive rate is 7.3%.

Modulation of the plasminogen activator activity of a transformed cell line by cell density

The effects of variations in cell density on the expression of the plasminogen activator activity of a tumorigenic rat cell line were analyzed. At low cell densities, the plasminogen activator activity per cell was high and independent of cell density. As the cell density increased, the plasminogen activator activity per cell decreased until it eventually became inversely proportional to cell density. Inhibition of the plasminogen activator activity per cell by increases in cell density was not the result of the presence of a soluble inhibitor but seemed to require cell-to-cell contact. The V(max) per cell for the activation of plasminogen changed at high cell densities, but the K(m) did not change. This change in the V(max) per cell was in part the result of a change in the catalytic rate constant for the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin. This was inferred from studies on the kinetics of inhibition of plasminogen activator activity by diisopropyl fluorophosphate as a function of cell density. For cells growing at high densities, the rate of inhibition was constant, exhibiting a second-order rate constant of 2.6 x 10(-2)M(-1) s(-1). For cells growing at low densities, the plasminogen activator activity was inhibited at two different rates, one exhibiting a second-order rate constant of 2.6 x 10(-2)M(-1) s(-1) and the other exhibiting a second-order rate constant of 9.4 x 10(-2)M(-1) s(-1). We discuss the importance of cell density in assays of the plasminogen activator activity of cells, the use of this cell line to study the biochemical basis of the density dependence of plasminogen activator activity, and the density-dependent role of plasminogen activator activity in tumor formation and metastasis.

Prevalence of Pediculus humanus capitis among school girls of Chuang-Wei and Nan-Ao Districts in I-Lan County and Man-Chow District in Ping-Tung County, Taiwan

By using the naked eye examination and comb method, a field survey and combing collection of head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis) among school girls in three different area (Man-Chow, Nan-Ao and Chuang-Wei) of Taiwan were performed from July 1979 to February, 1980. The general infestation rate of head louse was 39.8% (or 998/2,509). In the primary schools, comparatively, the rate at Man-Chow (66.7%) was highest, the next at Nan-Ao (55.4%) and the lowest at Chuang-Wei (39.4%). While in the junior high schools, the rate was apparently higher at Nan-Ao (38.4%) than that at Man-Chow (15.6%) and Chang-Wei (12.0%). The highest rate in the primary schools was found in 3rd graders except at Chuang-Wei in 5th graders. The corresponding figure in the junior high schools was found in 1st graders except at Nan-Ao in 2nd graders. Of 774 infested girls studied, according to the number of lice per infested girl, the percentages of infestation in the 5 groups were: the very light (nits only) 54.5, light (1-10) 38.5, moderate (11-50) 6.5, heavy (51-100) 0.4 and very heavy (over 100) 0.1 respectively. Of 2,178 head lice examined, 53.0% was nymphs; 28.7% females; 18.2% males. The average number of head louse in each infested girl 6.2.