Origin of adult T-cell leukemia virus. Implication for its zoonosis

Adult T-cell leukemia virus (ATLV) is a retrovirus infecting man. The ATLV genome consists of long terminal repeat (LTR), gag, pol, env and pX sequences and does not carry a typical v-onc gene. The function of the pX sequence is unknown. To search for the origin of ATLV, segments of the ATLV genome were hybridized to DNAs of various species. The sequences homologous to the pX region of ATLV are represented in the genomes of mouse and rat but not in other species including primates and the human. Neither the pol nor U3 sequence of LTR is conserved in any cellular DNA examined. Sequences slightly homologous to the U3R sequence are found in rabbit, chicken and Xenopus. The results suggest that the pX sequence of ATLV might have derived from rodents. Since ATLV can infect primates, rabbit and rat, ATLV might have been prevalent among a wide variety of mammals and exchanged genetic segments (zoonotic) like influenza virus. If we assume that the original host of ATLV is a rodent rather than man, the pX sequence is homologous to host cellular sequences and reminiscent of the v-onc gene although the function of the pX sequence is not clear.

Synthetic cephalosporins. The synthesis and antibacterial activities of 7-[2-(2-(amino-1,3,4-thiadiazol-5-yl)acetamido]-cephalosporins

Synthesis and antibacterial activities of 7-[2-(2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazol-5-yl)acetamido]-cephalosporins and their derivatives having the methoxyimino group at the 2-position of the 7-acyl moiety are described. These compounds are of interest as structural analogues of potent antibiotics, 7-[2-(2-aminothiazol-4-yl)acetamido]cephalosporins. 7-[2-(2-Amino-1,3,4-thiadiazol-5-yl)acetamido]cephalosporins showed comparable activity with cefazolin. Introduction of methoxyimino group to the 7-side chain resulted in a lowering of activity.

Parallelism between regulatory effects of erythrocyte glycoproteins on phagocytosis and on the alternative complement pathway

Major membrane glycoprotein fractions from erythrocytes of humans, rats, sheep and rabbits were isolated and reconstituted into dinitrophenyl (DNP)-haptenated liposomes, in an attempt to compare their effects on the phagocytic response of human polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMN) and on the alternative pathway of human complement. These glycoproteins on liposomes, by themselves, barely induced the nitroblue tetrazolium blue (NBT)-reducing reaction in PMN cells, but exhibited a suppressive effect to a variable extent on the Fc receptor-mediated uptake of haptenated liposomes opsonized with IgG, as judged by NBT reaction. The rank order in the suppressive activity was human greater than rat, sheep greater than rabbit. In parallel to their effect on phagocytosis, these glycoproteins were also found to suppress the alternative pathway of human complement which was initiated by IgG molecules attached to the same liposome surface. The results are taken to suggest that a molecular mechanism analogous to that in the complement cascade might also be involved in the phagocytic recognition system.

Two distinct Ca2+ proteases (calpain I and calpain II) purified concurrently by the same method from rat kidney

Two molecular species of calpain (Ca2+-dependent cysteine proteinases) were concurrently purified from rat kidney, both to homogeneity. Calpain I and calpain II having low and high Ca2+ requirements, respectively, were clearly separated on DEAE-cellulose chromatography at pH 7.5, and thereafter they were purified by separate but almost identical procedures which included (NH4)2SO4 fractionation and successive chromatographies on TSK-Gel G 3000 SWG, blue Sepharose CL-6B, and DEAE-Bio-Gel A. The purification folds and activity yields were 6170-fold and 17.8% for calpain I and 4160-fold and 11.9% for calpain II. Ca2+ concentrations for half-maximal activation were 2 microM for calpain I and 200 microM for calpain II. The specific activity of calpain II on casein as the substrate was more than twice higher than that of calpain I. Both enzymes are heterodimers, each composed of 80,000-Da and 25,000-Da subunits. The amino acid compositions of calpain I and calpain II are very similar but not identical. Calpain II is more acidic (pI 4.6) than calpain I (pI 5.3). This paper is the first to describe parallel isolation and characterization of low and high Ca2+-requiring proteases from one single nonmuscular tissue.

Anticancer drugs: effect on the cloning of Raji lymphoma cells in soft agar

The effect of 11 anticancer drugs on the ability of Raji lymphoma cells to form colonies in soft agar was determined with the use of both a 1-hour and a continuous drug exposure. Three distinct patterns of drug sensitivities were observed: a) Dactinomycin, adriamycin, bleomycin, mitomycin C, vincristine, and cis-platinum II all produced a dose-dependent reduction in colony formation following a 1-hour exposure, which was further augmented by a continuous exposure to the drugs; b) the antimetabolites (methotrexate, beta-cytosine arabinoside, and 5-fluorouracil) and pentamethylmelamine had no suppressive effects on colony formation with a 1-hour exposure, but they produced marked cytotoxicity with continuous drug exposure; and c) L-phenylalanine mustard had the same degree of colony suppression with both a 1-hour and a continuous drug exposure. Preincubation of Raji cells with an enzyme mixture (DNase + pronase + collagenase) did not alter the degree of colony suppression observed with the anticancer drugs. These results indicate that continuous drug exposure should be compared to a 1-hour drug incubation to determine in vitro drug sensitivities of fresh human tumors in the soft agar clonogenic assay, because the 1-hour drug exposure may not identify certain drugs that are potentially clinically active.

The cytosol of human erythrocytes contains a highly Ca2+-sensitive thiol protease (calpain I) and its specific inhibitor protein (calpastatin)

The cytosol of human erythrocytes was found to contain a Ca2+-dependent thiol protease (calpain) and its specific inhibitor (calpastatin) by DEAE-cellulose chromatography at pH 8.0, although no proteolytic activity toward casein was detected in the unfractionated hemolysate. The protease required only 40 microM Ca2+ for 50% activation, indicating that it belongs to the highly Ca2+-sensitive type of calpain, namely, calpain I. It was not inactivated by heating at 58 degrees C for 10 min at pH 7.2, the optimal pH for its action on casein. The inhibitor comprised major and minor components, calpastatin H (Mr = 280,000) and caplastatin L (Mr = 48,000). Both were heat-stable proteins which were readily inactivated by tryptic digestion. The inhibition of erythrocyte calpain by erythrocyte calpastatin H or L was not due to sequestering of Ca2+ from the reaction medium by the inhibitor protein. The calpain preparation preferentially digests bands III and IVa of human erythrocyte membrane proteins, with little or no cleavage of the bands corresponding to spectrin.

Identification of unintegrated forms of Kirsten murine sarcoma viral DNA and restriction endonuclease cleavage map of linear DNA

We detected unintegrated linear 7.0-kilobase pair DNA and covalently closed circular DNA species in NIH3T3 cells recently infected with Kirsten murine sarcoma virus. Using the linear DNA, we constructed a restriction endonuclease cleavage map and compared it with the map of Harvey murine sarcoma virus. The restriction endonuclease maps of two segments, one 1.2 kilobase pairs (SmaI site) to 3.7 kilobase pairs (HindIII site) from the right end (corresponding to the viral 3' side) and the other 0.5 kilobase pair (SmaI and KpnI sites) to 0.9 kilobase pair (KpnI site) from the left end, were identical in the two virus types.

[Thromboendarterectomy for cervical carotid occlusive lesions--technical note of our method (author's transl)]

In consecutive 13 cases of the carotid occlusive lesions the carotid thromboendarterectomy was performed with some of our devices as follows: 1) Superior cervical ganglionectomy was added to this operation, bringing efficacy to increase cerebral blood flow. 2) Removal of atheroma plaque en block, as far as possible, shortened the operation time and diminished the arterial wall damage. 3) We could approach to the carotid artery without dissection of the common facial vein by antero-medial retraction of the internal jugular vein. 4) The operation without internal shunt made the technique simple and shortened the operation time. 5) Interlacing vascular suture with microsurgical technique prevented narrowing or shortening of the carotid artery. 6) We used a pair of small needle holders with teeth for anterior wall suture. We could pick up the adventitia easily and exactly, and did not need change of the needle holding with these instruments. 7) Others: The clamping time ranged 15-45 minutes without any neurological deficits.

Insertion of muntjac gene segment into hamster cells by cell fusion

Indian muntjac diploid cells that have only three pairs of easily discernible large chromosomes were fused with hamster cells deficient in hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) using polyethylene glycol. Cells that survived in hypoxanthine-aminopterine-thymidine (HAT)-oubaine medium were analyzed. Hybrid cells containing both muntjac and hamster chromosomes in a given cell were not found. Instead, the cells had the same chromosomal sets as those of either parental muntjac or hamster cells. A clonal isolate that had the same chromosomal sets as those of parental hamster cells were analyzed in detail and showed the following characteristics: (1) portions of the survival curve in various concentrations of HAT medium were intermediate between those of parental cells; (2) expressions of both muntjac and hamster antigen(s) were detected by immunofluorescence staining; (3) the mobility of the enzyme HGPRT in gel electrophoresis differed from that of parental hamster or muntjac cells. These results indicate that the clonal isolate (AD202h) is a somatic cell hybrid of hamster and muntjac that contains chromosomal sets of hamster with an inserted segment of the muntjac genome, including HGPRT. The formation of such an unusual hybrid and a possible explanation of transfer of some gene segments in the hybrid cell in this system are discussed.

Conserved sequence related to the 3'-terminal region of retrovirus RNA'S In normal cellular DNAs

The nucleotide sequences related to the 3'-terminal protion of retrovirus genomic RNA have been detected in the DNA of animals, including humans. The DNA complementary to the 400 to 700 nucleotides from the 3'-terminal end of retrovirus RNA (cDNA3'), which contains the enriched conserved region, was hybridized with DNA from a variety of animal cells. Under the conditions of annealing in 0.72 M NaCl at 67 degrees C and hydroxyapatite chromatography at 55 degrees C, 20 to 50% of the radioactivity of the cDNA3' prepared from two retroviruses, a murine Rauscher virus (RLV) and a baboon virus (M7), annealed with normal cellular DNA of animals, including human tissue. The thermal denaturation profile revealed considerable mismatching between the duplex of the cDNA3' and human DNA, cDNA3' of retroviruses is most homologous to cellular DNA of the host species of origin and is less homologous to cellular DNA of species that are distant in the phylogeny of the host species. The conservation and evolution of nucleotide sequences related to the 3' end of retrovirus genomes in animal DNAs, including humans, suggest that the sequences may have important functions.

[Postoperative transient occlusion of internal carotid artery due to shift of the clip used for neck clipping of the huge left internal carotid aneurysm (author's transl)]

A 49-year-old female, having had suffered from a huge left internal carotid (IC) aneurysm and a right IC aneurysm, was treated surgically. The neck of huge aneurysm, was treated surgically. The neck of huge aneurysm was clipped with Sugita's spring clip after its body was dissected and the otherone was clipped simply. Right hemiparesis was seen postoperatively. And the angiograms, taken on the 4th postoperative day, showed not only an aneurysmal disappearance but also an occlusion of the left ICA which presumably due to shift of the spring clip to the direction of antero-lateral. Right hemiparesis disappeared, however, suddenly on the 40th postoperative day and reopening of the left ICA was confirmed angiographically despite the further shift of the clip. The possible genesis of the curious course in this case and the possible complications in the use of large aneurysmal clip was discussed.

Anterior communicating artery aneurysms with associated anomalies

In 296 cases with a single aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery (ACoA), fenestration or the presence of more than two ACoA's was observed in 17 cases (5.7%), and abnormal vessels of ACoA origin, such as a median artery of the corpus callosum, were observed in 13 cases (4.4%). As more than one anomaly was found in some of these cases, anomalies of the ACoA were found in total of 26 cases (8.8%). This occurrence rate was no higher than that observed in other cerebral aneurysm cases and in the control cases, which were reported previously. There was no significant increase of hypoplasia of the A1 portion if the ACoA aneurysm was complicated by other arterial anomalies.

Conserved region of mammalian retrovirus RNA

The viral RNAs of various mammalian retroviruses contain highly conserved sequences close to their 3' ends. This was demonstrated by interviral molecular hybridization between fractionated viral complementary DNA (cDNA) and RNA. cDNA near the 3' end (cDNA(3')) from a rat virus (RPL strain) was fractionated by size and mixed with mouse virus RNA (Rauscher leukemia virus). No hybridization occurred with total cDNA (cDNA(total)), in agreement with previous results, but a cross-reacting sequence was found with the fractionated cDNA(3'). The sequences between 50 to 400 nucleotides from the 3' terminus of heteropolymeric RNA were most hybridizable. The rat viral cDNA(3') hybridized with mouse virus RNA more extensively than with RNA of remotely related retroviruses. The related viral sequence of the rodent viruses (mouse and rat) showed as much divergence in heteroduplex thermal denaturation profiles as did the unique sequence DNA of these two rodents. This suggests that over a period of time, rodent viruses have preserved a sequence with changes correlated to phylogenetic distance of hosts. The cross-reacting sequence of replication-competent retroviruses was conserved even in the genome of the replication-defective sarcoma virus and was also located in these genomes near the 3' end of 30S RNA. A fraction of RD114 cDNA(3'), corresponding to the conserved region, cross-hybridized extensively with RNA of a baboon endogenous virus (M7). Fractions of similar size prepared from cDNA(3') of MPMV, a primate type D virus, hybridized with M7 RNA to a lesser extent. Hybridization was not observed between Mason-Pfizer monkey virus and M7 if total cDNA's were incubated with viral RNAs. The degree of cross-reaction of the shared sequence appeared to be influenced by viral ancestral relatedness and host cell phylogenetic relationships. Thus, the strikingly high extent of cross-reaction at the conserved region between rodent viruses and simian sarcoma virus and between baboon virus and RD114 virus may reflect ancestral relatedness of the viruses. Slight cross-reaction at the site between type B and C viruses of rodents (mouse mammary tumor virus and RPL virus, 58-2T) or type C and D viruses of primates (M7, RD114, and Mason-Pfizer monkey virus) may have arisen at the conserved region through a mechanism that depends more on the phylogenetic relatedness of the host cells than on the viral type or origin. Determining the sequence of the conserved region may help elucidate this mechanism. The conserved sequences in retroviruses described here may be an important functional unit for the life cycle of many retroviruses.

Vein graft bypass in treatment of giant aneurysm

A case of giant internal carotid artery aneurysm which was successfully treated by trapping and internal decompression of the aneurysm is presented. Proximal vascular occlusion of the involved internal carotid artery and long vein bypass graft were performed under hypothermia. This is the first long vein bypass graft reported for the treatment of a giant aneurysm.

Tumorigenicity of Indian muntjac diploid cells by the proviral integration of sarcoma gene of a mouse retrovirus

The transformed clonal isolates of Indian muntjac diploid cells by a mouse sarcoma virus, 43-2XV, were tested for tumorigenicity in athymic nude mice. In spite of the indistinguishable transformed morphology, the tumorigenicity exhibited four different patterns: (a) no tumor formation; (b) slowly growing regressive tumor formation; (c) rapidly growing regressive tumor formation; and (d) rapidly growing progressive tumor formation. This demonstrates that the same diploid host cells transformed by the same virus reveal variable patterns of tumorigenic expression and some transformed host cells lack the tumorigenicity entirely. The findings that there are at least two chromosomes and four recombinant sites assigned for the proviral integrations of the sarcoma gene into the Indian muntjac gene (M. Hatanaka, R. Klein, R. Kominami, T. Oikawa, H. Okabe, N. Tsuchida, E. C. Connors, and A. Carrano. Transformation of Indian muntjac diploid cells by the proviral integration of sarcoma gene of a mouse retrovirus. Manuscript in preparation.) lead us to propose a hypothesis that variable expressions of tumorigenicity under the neutral background of immune responses, may arise from variable integrations of the sarcoma gene into the host chromosome.