Stimulation of the apoptotic response as a basis for the therapeutic synergism of lonidamine and cisplatin in combination in human tumour xenografts

The pharmacological interest in lonidamine is related to its ability to enhance the cytotoxic effects of several DNA-damaging anti-tumour agents. This study was undertaken to better understand the in vivo interaction between lonidamine and cisplatin in the treatment of human tumour xenografts, including three carcinoma models characterized by a different responsiveness to cisplatin, in spite of the presence of a wild-type p53 gene in all tumours. The drug combination was more effective in tumour growth inhibition than cisplatin alone against MX-1 breast carcinoma and A2780 ovarian carcinoma, both highly responsive to cisplatin, whereas no influence of ionidamine was observed on anti-tumour activity of cisplatin in the treatment of the relatively resistant IGROV-1 ovarian carcinoma. As cisplatin activity is related to induction of apoptosis, the modulation of drug-induced apoptosis by lonidamine was investigated. Under conditions in which lonidamine itself had negligible effects on tumour growth and apoptosis, the modulating agent stimulated the apoptotic response induced by cisplatin in the responsive but not in the resistant tumours. Tumour response was dependent not only on the drug activation of apoptosis, but mainly on the persistence over time of the event. In the breast carcinoma MX-1, hypersensitive to cisplatin and to the lonidamine+cisplatin combination, the efficacy of drug treatment was associated with phosphorylation of bcl-2 followed by down-regulation of the protein. Lonidamine itself caused a delayed phosphorylation of bcl-2. These results are consistent with the interpretation that lonidamine is effective in modulating biochemical factors involved in regulation of apoptosis.

Tobacco smoking and risk of haematological malignancies in adults: a case-control study

A retrospective study was conducted in 1216 cases to investigate the possible association between tobacco smoking and the risk of haematological malignancies. A small, but not significant, increase in malignancy was observed in smokers. Significant association was demonstrated between tobacco smoking and acute nonlymphoblastic leukaemia, and myelodysplastic syndromes. The duration and amount smoked increased the risk; heavy smokers presented significant positive associations with overall malignancies, acute nonlymphoblastic leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, whereas light smokers did not present any significant association. These data support a causal relationship between certain haematological malignancies and tobacco smoking. Further research is needed to examine the risk according to dose-response effect, and the variation in risk according to the histological subtype of the malignancy.

Description and analysis of allele distribution for four VNTR markers in French and French Canadian populations

Allele distributions were determined for several VNTR loci in the general French Caucasian population, a French regional population from Brittany and in three French Canadian populations, residing either in Montréal or in one of two other regions in Québec. Allele distributions are highly polymorphic in all populations sampled. Despite a well-documented genetic founder effect in one of the populations, no disequilibrium was detected over all genotypes, within and between loci, for the data bases in this study. Moreover, there were no forensically significant differences observed between estimated frequencies of 1,964 Caucasian and non-Caucasian target DNA profiles estimated in any of the groups.

A hox/hom homeobox gene in sponges

The hox/hom homeobox genes code for DNA-binding proteins that confer positional information during animal development; these genes have been found in a wide range of triploblasts and in cnidarians. We report here the identification of a hox/hom gene and two other homeobox genes in the genomes of sponges. This finding extends the detection of hox/hom genes to the lowest metazoan phylum and suggests a monophyletic origin of the kingdom Animalia. Because, in culture, sponge cells quickly reaggregate, differentiate and construct tissue after disaggregation, they can provide a useful model system for characterization of the basic roles of homeobox genes in the control of cellular differentiation.

A pilot study on the liver protective effect of silybin-phosphatidylcholine complex (IdB1016) in chronic active hepatitis

In order to assess the liver protective activity and the antioxidant properties of a new silybin complex (IdB1016), we carried out a short-term pilot study on 20 patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH), randomly assigned to 240 mg of silybin b.i.d. (10 patients, 4 m/6 f, mean age: 50 years) or placebo (10 patients, 2 m/8 f, mean age: 55 years). Blood samples were collected before and after 7 days of treatment for liver function tests (LFTs), malonaldehyde (MDA) as an index of lipid peroxidation, and copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), two trace elements involved in protecting cells against free radical-mediated lipid peroxidation. In the treated group, there was a statistically significant reduction of mean (+/- SEM) serum concentrations of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) from 88.0 (+/- 13.3) to 65.9 (+/- 7.5) u/l, (p < 0.01), of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) from 115.9 (+/- 12.9) to 82.5 (+/- 10.6) u/l (p < 0.01), of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (gamma-GT) from 51.4 (+/- 9.3) to 41.3 (+/- 4.2) u/l (p < 0.02) and of total bilirubin (TB) from 0.76 (+/- 0.08) to 0.53 (+/- 0.04) mg/dl (p < 0.05). Alkaline phosphatase (AP) fell slightly from 143.4 (+/- 6.4) to 137.5 (+/- 7.8) u/l. There were no significant changes in MDA, Cu or Zn serum concentrations. These results show that IdB1016 may improve LFTs related to hepatocellular necrosis and/or increases membrane permeability in patients affected by CAH.

[Ursodeoxycholic hemisuccinate in the treatment of chronic active hepatitis. A controlled clinico-therapeutic study]

This controlled study was performed on 36 patients affected by HBV and/or HCV correlated chronic hepatitis (CAH). Eighteen of them received 300 mg of UDCA-hemisuccinate orally twice a day for six months; the other 18 received 200 mg of S-adenosyl-methionine (SAMe) twice a day for six months. The two groups were determined randomly. Treatment with UDCA-hemi-succinate produced a statistically significant reduction in ALT (from 167 +/- 17 to 119 +/- 15 U/l; p < 0.0001), AST (from 122 +/- 14 to 86 +/- 11 U/l; p < 0.0001) and y-GT (from 81 +/- 10 to 53 +/- 6 U/l, p < 0.0001). The results obtained suggest that UDCA-hemi-succinate may be useful in the long-term treatment of chronic liver diseases of viral aetiology because it improves the biochemical parameters of hepatocellular necrosis and/or increased liver cell permeability.

[Neonatal infections and premature rupture of fetal membranes]

The premature rupture of the membranes is still a cause of concern due to the related risk of infection and respiratory disorders. The study included sixty-two neonates whose mothers had ruptured their membranes for at least 48 hours (group A) and 42 neonates with a high risk of infection (low birth weight, prematurity) (group B) in order to assess whether antibiotic prophylaxis used in pregnant women with premature rupture of the membranes is sufficient to reduce the risk of severe neonatal infection. The results obtained show that there is an increased frequency of RDS, jaundice and mortality in group A, whereas in group B there was a greater frequency of sepsis and urinary tract infections. Antibiotic prophylaxis therefore allows the frequency of neonatal infections following the rupture of membranes to be reduced, thus enabling the birth to be delayed in order to induce pulmonary maturity.

[Proposed scoring system for the early diagnosis of infection in neonates]

Infections are currently often responsible for neonatal morbidity and mortality. The present study examines the possibility of reducing this incidence by the early diagnosis of infections. With this in mind the early clinical signs of infection were examined as well as the results of certain quickly and easily performed blood and blood chemical tests which were scored from 0 to 2. The results showed that newborns with scores less than 5 should be considered free of sepsis, those scoring 5-7 should arouse suspicion of sepsis, while sepsis should be considered definitely present in those scoring greater than 7. This scoring system presented 100% sensitivity, 88.2% specificity as well as 100% positive and an 88.2% negative predictive value. The system is therefore considered reliable as well as easy to use.

[Glycerol erythrocyte lysis test in the 1st month of life in neonates at term and premature infants]

Foetal erythrocytes have an enhanced resistance to osmotic haemolysis that they retain for the first 5 days after birth, particularly in premature newborns. The erythrocyte fragility test was used to study the increased resistance to osmotic haemolysis in 155 healthy newborns (50 NGA born to term, 55 NGA premature and 50 SGA born to term) as well as 31 newborns (20 born to term and 11 premature) with aspecific hyperbilirubinaemia. The drug used was glycerol which is specific in its reaction to alterations in erythrocyte membrane stability and made it possible to assess changes arising in the first month after birth, both naturally and in response to phototherapy. The results show a much higher resistance in neonatal than adult erythrocytes that gradually decrease during the first month after birth without, however, falling to adult levels. No changes in resistance attributable to the phototherapy adopted in newborns with hyperbilirubinaemia were encountered. The glycerol test proved extremely sensitive in the diagnosis of neonatal haemolytic anaemias easy to use so that congenital spherocytosis can be identified earlier than is otherwise possible.

Allele frequency distribution of two highly polymorphic DNA sequences in three ethnic groups and its application to the determination of paternity

The allele frequency distribution of two highly polymorphic DNA sequences has been determined in three ethnic groups (American blacks, Caucasoids, and Hispanics) from the New York metropolitan area. The two loci examined were D14S1 and the flanking region of HRAS-1. The former was analyzed in EcoRI-digested DNA and the latter in TaqI-digested DNA. Approximately 700 DNA samples from unrelated individuals were digested with each of these enzymes and hybridized with the appropriate recombinant DNA probes. The size range of the DNA fragments detected for the D14S1 polymorphism varied from 14.3 to 32.5 kilobase pairs (kbp). The number of alleles identified under the experimental conditions used in this study was more than 40. For the HRAS-1 polymorphism, we have detected 18 different alleles varying in size from 1.85 to 4.5 kbp. Although the number of alleles observed in the different ethnic groups examined was very similar, the relative frequency of them varied significantly. The results presented here can be used as the basis for the utilization of DNA RFLP for the purpose of identity, such as paternity determinations or the analysis of forensic material. As an example, we have compared the results of paternity cases analyzed by HLA typing with those obtained with these two DNA polymorphisms. The values of paternity index and power of exclusion were similar by both procedures.

Application of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymorphisms to the analysis of DNA recovered from sperm

Sperms, collected following sexual activity of volunteers, were processed to isolate high-molecular weight deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). These DNA samples were digested with particular restriction endonucleases and analyzed with probes that recognize polymorphic DNA regions within the human genome. The pattern of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) detected by this test is identical to that observed with DNA prepared from blood of the male sexual partner. Therefore, RFLP analysis can be used to exclude or to determine the probable identity of an assailant in rape cases.