[Preparation and characterization of monoclonal antibody against human uterine cervical carcinoma]

A murine Hybridoma, CEB9, which stably produces monoclonal antibody against human uterine cervical carcinoma is described. CEB9 was obtained by fusing splenic cells from a BALB/c mouse immunized with human uterine cervical carcinoma cell line CC-801 cells with mouse myeloma cell line SP2/0 -Ag14 cells, followed by cloning and subcloning. The antibody is identified as IgG. The results of immunocytochemistry and fluorescence analysis show that the antibody reacted strongly with human uterine cervical carcinoma cells only among the following tested cell lines: PLC/RF/5, 7402, LETP-78, Scle, Hep-2, 2BS, as well as primary cultured human fibroblast cells. Pancreatic carcinoma cells were reactive.

[Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of choroidal melanoma]

Ten choroidal melanomas studied were with computed tomography (CT, nine cases) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, one case). Both techniques detected all the intraocular tumors with localization and determination of the extent of the lesions. Three of them were found to have extraocular extension. Because both T1 and T2 were relatively shortened in melanoma, on T-weighted MR image, the tumor was seen as an area of moderately high signal and on T weighted image, melanoma appeared as an area of low signal. MRI can provide a histological diagnosis of this tumor.

Oxidation-induced increase in activity of angiotensin converting enzyme in the rat kidney

The activity of angiotensin converting enzyme(ACE) in crude extracts of the rat renal cortex was increased when the oxidizing agent diamide was added to the extract. The maximal activity was obtained at concentrations over 1 mM, and the value was twice or more the activity in the absence of the pretreatment. The activity of ACE was also increased by the diamide-pretreatment of the isolated membrane fraction of the renal cortex, thereby indicating that the increase in activity was not due to oxidation of endogenous glutathione (GSH) that may lower the ACE activity, but rather that ACE itself was oxidized. When O2 was included in the extract for 2 h, the ACE activity also increased to about twice the original activity. Lineweaver-Burk plots analysis demonstrated that, after oxidation with diamide and O2, the Vmax was increased but the Km remained unchanged. We conclude that the action of ACE in the kidney functions may differ in relation to oxidation of the tissue.

Morphology and morphogenesis of viruses of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. II. Inclusion bodies--ultrastructural markers of hantavirus-infected cells

Three distinctive types of viral inclusion bodies were identified in hantavirus-infected cells by thin-section electron microscopy. The inclusion bodies, designated granular, granulofilamentous, and filamentous, were intracytoplasmic and closely associated with the rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi cisternae. Virus specificity of the inclusions was verified by immune colloidal gold and immunoperoxidase labeling. The inclusion bodies were a common morphological marker for 13 strains of hantaviruses studied, irrespective of their origin.

Contribution of renal angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) to blood pressure regulation: possible role of brush border ACE

The role of renal angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in blood pressure regulation is not well understood. In our studies, both acute and chronic treatment of hypertensive rats SHR and SHRSP with ACE inhibitors Enalapril and SA446 had a blood pressure lowering effect that coincided with an inhibition of renal cortical and aortic ACE, but not plasma ACE. Further, ACE activities in the renal cortex and aorta were found to increase with aging of the SHRSP, therefore concomitantly with hypertension development. In the kidney, brush border membranes (BBM) contained abundant ACE. We found that the activities of ACE in the renal cortex closely correlated to the activities in isolated BBM, in Wistar Kyoto rats and in the SHRSP. Thus, renal cortical ACE activity and blood pressure correlated in cases of ACE inhibition and hypertension development. Since the ACE activity in the renal cortex appeared to reflect the enzyme activity in BBM, the brush border ACE may have to be taken into account, in view of the relationship between renal ACE and blood pressure.

Nutrition and renal osteodystrophy

Nutritional factors, especially calcium, calorie and fat intakes may be important in the treatment with active vitamin D, so that the effect appears more efficient. Incidence of bone changes, due to hyperparathyroidism in diabetic nephropathy, was less than that in non-diabetic patients under hemodialysis. No effect of control status of diabetes mellitus was demonstrated, regarding incidence of subperiosteal resorption of finger bones. Bone mass was decreased in diabetic patients in whom the control of blood glucose was inadequate.

Antigenic difference between viral strains causing classical and mild types of epidemic hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in China

The antigenic relationship between viral isolates from Apodemus and Rattus that appear to cause the classical and mild types of epidemic hemorrhagic fever (EHF) in China was studied by cross-immunofluorescence, cross-neutralization, immunofluorescence blocking tests, and cross-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Obvious antigenic diversity between the isolates was demonstrated by cross-neutralization, immunofluorescence blocking tests, and cross-ELISA. Antisera from patients with classical EHF neutralized viruses of both types to a similar degree, but antisera from patients with mild EHF showed little neutralization of apodemus virus. Similarly, antisera from classical EHF blocked immunofluorescence by monoclonal antibody (25-1 McAb) derived from apodemus virus to both viral antigens, but antisera from mild EHF gave only low-grade blocking against apodemus viral antigen. Direct antigenic titrations of both viral strains by cross-ELISA yielded similar results. That distinct antigenic differences exist between viral strains causing these two types of EHF might be of great importance to the serological differentiation of the viruses and the study of EHF vaccine.

Etiologic studies of epidemic hemorrhagic fever (hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome)

Two strains of epidemic hemorrhagic fever (EHF) virus were isolated from the lung tissues of Apodemus agrarius mice that were captured in an area where EHF is endemic. The strains were isolated by passages in A. agrarius mice from a nonendemic area. Identification of the isolates by usual procedures was confirmed by repeated blind tests with coded sera. Contamination with certain known viruses such as reovirus, adenovirus (types 3 and 7), and other pathogens, such as murine typhus rickettsiae and Leptospira, which may be naturally present in wild rodents, appeared to have been ruled out. The antigen slides made from these isolates are in use in the specific diagnosis and seroepidemiologic studies of EHF. The first successful application is the serodiagnosis of a mild type of hemorrhagic fever that occurs with characteristic epidemiologic features in certain provinces of China.

Morphological evidence for identifying the viruses of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome as candidate members of the Bunyaviridae family. Brief report

Thin section immuno-electron microscopy has been successfully applied to investigate and identify the classical and mild form of HFRS viruses isolated in the People's Republic of China. The results showed that all the 8 strains studied (derived from different parts of China, adapted in different cell lines) share a common morphology and morphogenesis. Essentially, the viruses possess characteristics of members of the Bunyaviridae Family, however, differing by a larger size and size variation and formation of cytoplasmic viral inclusions.