Recurrent acute suppurative thyroiditis

Two patients had two recurrent episodes each of acute suppurative thyroiditis. Circulating concentrations of plasma thyrotrophin, thyroxine, and triiodothyronine were within the range of normal. Antibodies to thyroid microsome or thyroglobulin were not found. Anaerobic bacteria such as Bacteroides, Peptostreptococcus, and Peptococcus were identified as causative agents, indicating that anaerobic organisms may play an important role in the pathologic process. The present cases are the third and fourth reported cases of recurrent acute suppurative thyroiditis in the literature.

Two forms of thymidine kinase in normal and tumor tissues of animals

The thymidine kinases extracted from the spleen of mice infected with Friend virus and from Yoshida sarcoma in rats were separated into two active peaks by diethylaminoethyl cellulose column chromatography, while those of normal tissues have been found to consist of only the first peak (P-1). The second peak (P-II) was also found in the enzyme from the extract of the spleen when the animals were treated by i.p. injections of 1-acetyl 2-phenylhydrazine. The two P-II peaks from tumor tissue and from spleen enlarged by anemia-inducing agents were indistinguishable on the chromatographic profile. On the other hand, the thymidine kinase extracted with Triton X-100 from a mitochondrial fraction of normal liver was found to consist of only one peak in the same position as the above P-II's on the chromatogram, but its faculty for deoxythymidine triphosphate inhibition was not identical to that of tumor tissue. This treatment with the detergent might cause dissociation of a certain component from the enzyme complex to make the extra peak (P-IIb), but it eventually shifts to P-II on the chromatogram.

Immunological heterogeneity in human ferritinemia

Hyperferritinemia in various diseases, mainly hematological, was confirmed by immunological methods. For ferritin detection, anti-human placental ferritin antiserum, anti-human hepatic ferritin antiserum, and anti-human leukemia cell ferritin antiserum were used and the result was compared with each other. Leukemia, malignant lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and aplastic anemia are hematological diseases which showed a positive reaction in this test, among which leukemia showed the highest positivity. Cases of hepatic diseases and non-hematological malignant neoplasms also showed a positive reaction. The positivity was quite low and almost negligible in other diseases and healthy individuals. Anti-human placental ferritin antiserum seemed to be suitable for cancer diagnosis and, antihuman hepatic ferritin antiserum for hepatic diseases. The results of analysis of purified human hepatic and placental ferritins highly suggested the presence of immunological heterogeneities between them. Also, a possibility was pointed out that one of the components of the so-called leukemia-specific antigens might sometimes be the isoferritin of leukemia cells.

Antiserum against leukemia cell ferritin as a diagnostic tool for malignant neoplasms

The specific antiserum against a type of ferritin that is especially common to leukemia cells and the placenta was used to test, by countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis, sera from humans with various diseases. The best results were obtained with leukemia; patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia in blastic phase, acute myelogenous leukemia, lymphogenous leukemia, and unclassifiable juvenile leukemia frequently showed a positive reaction, but patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia in static phase did not. The average incidence of positive reaction among all leukemia patients was 54.0%. Patients with other malignant tumors (i.e., multiple myeloma, malignant lymphoma and carcinomas of the stomach, rectum, and liver) also often showed a positive reaction. The average incidence of positive reaction among all the patients with malignant diseases of the hematopoietic system, except for leukemia, was 34.3%, and that among patients with nonhematologic malignant neoplasms was 36.8%. However, the incidence of a positive reaction in patients with benign diseases and healthy individuals was less than 3%.

Urinary excretion of steroids and response to oophorectomy in premenopausal women with advanced breast cancer

Relationship between the urinary excretion of steroids in premenopausal Japaneses patients with advanced breast cancer and their response to oophorectomy was studied. The estrogen fractions were determined by radioimmunoassay and those who responded to oophorectomy showed higher levels of 17 beta-estradiol than the non-responders before surgery. The high levels of urinary 17 beta-estradiol of the responders dropped markedly after oophorectomy. On the contrary, the non-responders showed relatively low levels of urinary excretion of 17 beta-estradiol before oophorectomy and the levels appeared either unchanged or slightly elevated after surgery. No definite relation was found between changes in the urinary excretion of estrone or estriol and the clinical effect of oophorectomy. Excretion of 17-ketosteroids in the responders was lower than that of the non-responders.