Central nervous system involvement in Von Hippel-Lindau disease

Fifty individuals with Von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) were studied with gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine the frequency and distribution of CNS lesions. The associated clinical features were also reviewed. Thirty-six (72%) of the 50 had 1 or more CNS tumors. The most frequently affected sites in the CNS excluding the retina were the cerebellum (52%), spinal cord (44%), and brainstem (18%). New regional predilections for the craniocervical junction and conus medullaris were demonstrated by this study. Forty-one percent of all VHL patients with CNS tumors were neurologically asymptomatic: cerebellar tumors (50%), spinal cord tumors (50%), and brainstem tumors (44%) were often without clinical signs or symptoms. Multiple lesions were common. The mean age of all VHL patients (34.5 years) was similar to the mean age of all CNS VHL patients (34.4 years), suggesting a lack of age association. CNS lesions commonly occurred in the 2nd decade of life. All patients at risk for VHL should be evaluated using gadolinium-enhanced MRI after 10 years of age, although ophthalmic examination should be initiated within the 1st 2 years of life. Enhanced MRI is particularly useful in the detection of CNS tumors in patients with the VHL gene.

Verapamil-induced creatine kinase loss from rat slow and fast muscles

The purpose of this study was to determine the dose-response relationship between verapamil HCl and creatine kinase (CK) release from isolated rat slow (soleus, S) and fast (flexor digitorum profundus, F) skeletal muscles. Total CK activity in F muscle was approximately 2x greater than in S muscle. For both S and F muscles, CK release as a function of verapamil concentration in the incubation medium was linear (r = 0.94); the slope of the line for F muscle was 4.5x that of the S muscle. S and F muscles lost up to 38-44% of their total CK activity during the 2 hr incubation. The CK activity lost to the medium was 100% of the MM isoform. The mechanism of the enzyme release is not known.

Transcriptional regulation of early-response genes during polyomavirus infection

Infection of quiescent BALB/c 3T3 cells with polyomavirus leads to the biphasic accumulation of RNA from several early-response genes. The steady-state levels of RNA of c-fos, c-myc, and c-jun were detected at 0 to 1 and 12 to 30 h after infection but not at 6 h postinfection. Infections with mutant viruses suggest that in the context of a virus infection with other tumor (T) antigens present, large T and middle T antigens are dispensable for the effect and small t antigen is important for the regulation, perhaps in conjunction with large T or middle T antigens. These results are in agreement with those of Zullo et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:1210-1214). We have further found that this regulation occurs in NIH 3T3 cells and primary mouse embryo fibroblasts. DNA synthesis is not required for this effect. Half-lives of c-fos, c-myc, and c-jun were similarly short at both early and late times after infection, as determined by dactinomycin chase. The regulation of expression occurs at the transcriptional level. Nuclear run-on experiments showed increased rates of transcription both early and late after infection. Also, the polyomavirus early region can transactivate the c-fos promoter in transient transfection assays.

A new polymorphic probe on chromosome 3p: lambda LIB49-63 (D3S192E)

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A new polymorphic probe on chromosome 3p: lambda LIB28-77 (D3S169E)

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Serotherapy of cancer: cellular changes in primary rat mammary carcinomas after infusion of syngeneic sera absorbed with protein A-Sepharose

Serotherapy and plasma therapy have proved to be effective in the treatment of diverse neoplasms. The mechanisms of the tumoricidal or growth-inhibitory effects are unknown. We previously reported that activation of the alternative pathway of complement in absorbed sera correlated with the presence of anti-tumor activity. Complement components generated during absorption may serve as the initial mediators of cytotoxicity; for example, C5a may function in its role as a chemo-attractant. To further investigate the anti-tumor mechanisms, we undertook a series of sequential histological studies of in vivo changes in tumors following i.v. serotherapy. We found diffuse inflammatory cellular infiltrates in the interstitial compartments of primary mammary carcinomas of rats within 3-4 hr of administration of protein A-Sepharose absorbed syngeneic serum. The number of inflammatory cells was significantly higher in tumors from treated rats: total infiltrating cells (p = 0.002), eosinophils (p = 0.001), neutrophils (p = 0.001), macrophages (p = 0.001), lymphocytes (p = 0.004) and plasma cells (p = 0.001). Also, the mitotic index of tumor cells was significantly lower 4 hr after serotherapy when compared with that of untreated rat tumor cells. C3 in tumor tissue was decreased at 4 hr following serotherapy. Fibrosis was present in tumor nodules with retarded growth 5 weeks after the start of serotherapy. Localization of the infiltrating cells to tumor interstitial compartments prevents direct contact between inflammatory cells and neoplastic cells, making it unlikely that direct cell-cell killing occurs. Indirect cell killing within the tumor bed apparently occurs through several mechanisms involving interactions between serotherapy-initiated humoral mediators and inflammatory cells. The resulting anti-tumor effects include microvascular injury leading to localized ischemia, tumor infarction, and fibroblastic reactions obstructing tumor invasion and growth.

Detailed kinetics of adenovirus type-5 steady-state transcripts during early infection

The appearance and steady-state accumulation of specific viral RNAs during the early phase of adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) infection was examined. HeLa cells were synchronously infected and harvested at 30 min intervals throughout the first 12 h of infection. Total cytoplasmic RNA was extracted from infected cells and analyzed by hybridization-selection and translation to identify the viral mRNAs from each early region on the basis of the protein products they encode. The same RNA samples were used for S-1 nuclease and Northern blot analyses to quantitatively compare the levels of individual viral RNAs that accumulate within each early transcription region (E1A, E1B, L1, E2A, E3 and E4). The salient features of this analysis show that RNA accumulation occurs first from E1A followed by E2A, E3 and E4, E1B and lastly, L1. Although the profile of RNA accumulation was unique for each early region, overlapping RNAs within E1A, E3, and E4, respectively, remained generally parallel to one another throughout early infection, in contrast to RNAs from E1B and L1, respectively. Since both the appearance and quantitative accumulation of specific early viral mRNAs were examined at many time points, a number of subtleties associated with the complex dynamics of early Ad5 gene expression were revealed. In particular, the L1 region was shown to transcribe from the major late promoter two early RNAs of 3.81 Kb and 3.5 Kb, either or both of which encode the 52,55 kDa proteins; the auxiliary i leader sequence was found on the 3.81 Kb RNA but not on the 3.5 Kb RNA.

Muscle blood flow and fiber activity in partially curarized rats during exercise

We previously reported that low doses of d-tubocurarine attenuated glycogen loss in red muscles of rats during treadmill walking but that the initial hyperemia in the muscles was normal. The present studies were performed to 1) determine with electromyography (EMG) whether red muscle fiber activity is reduced in walking, curarized rats and 2) study muscle blood flow and glycogen loss during running with different doses of curare (dose response). At 0.5 min of treadmill walking (15 m/min), integrated EMG in vastus intermedius (VI) muscle was reduced by an average of 18% in curarized (60 micrograms/kg) rats, although blood flow (measured with microspheres) was the same as in saline control rats. Comparison of blood flows and glycogen loss in quadriceps muscles at 1 min of treadmill running (30 m/min) with different curare doses (20-60 micrograms/kg) demonstrated that red muscle glycogen loss was inversely related to curare dose but that blood flows in the same muscles were unaffected by curare. These findings provide support for our previous conclusion that at the initiation of low to moderate treadmill exercise, red muscle blood flow is not proportional to the activity or metabolism of the muscle fibers.