Immune response developing in tumorous organism as a result of immunotherapy. Chance of recovery?

Exact Concentration Dependence of the Landolt Time in the Thiourea Dioxide-Bromate Substrate-Depletive Clock Reaction

The thiourea dioxide (TDO)-bromate reaction has been reinvestigated spectrophotometrically under acidic conditions using phosphoric acid-dihydrogen-phosphate buffer within the pH range of 1.1-1.8 at 1.0 M ionic strength adjusted by sodium perchlorate and at 25 °C. The title system shows a remarkable resemblance to the classical Landolt reaction, namely, the clock species (bromine) may only appear after the substrate TDO is completely consumed. Thus, the title system can be classified as substrate-depletive clock reaction. Despite the well-known slow rearrangement characteristic of TDO in acidic solution, it is surprisingly found that the Landolt time of the title reaction does not depend at all on the age of TDO solution applied. It is, however, shown experimentally that the inverse of Landolt time linearly depends on the initial bromate concentration as well as on the square of the hydrogen ion concentration. In addition to this, it is also noticed that dihydrogen phosphate markedly affects the Landolt time as well, and this feature may easily be taken into consideration by the H₂PO₄^- dependence of the rate of bromate-bromide reaction quantitatively. Based on the experiments, a simple three-step kinetic model is proposed from which a complex formula is derived to indicate the exact concentration dependence of the Landolt time.

Urinary Excretion of Thioamine Compounds in Patients with Malignant Tumors and Inflammation

The Kokonov's reaction measures thioamine-like compounds excreted in the urine. We compared the results obtained by this reaction in patients with malignant tumors and inflammatory diseases. The majority of patients with advanced (stage III-IV) cancer displayed a positive test. The chance of obtaining a positive test was related to the tumor mass. Lymphoma patients in complete remission were negative. Patients suffering from bacterial infections, active autoimmune diseases, and acute pancreatitis or myocardial infarction also had positive tests. The increased excretion of thioamines, found in tumor-bearing patients can be explained by the activation of the immune system, probably by the inflammation around or within the tumor tissue. The Kokonov's reaction is not suitable to discriminate between tumor-bearing patients and healthy ones. It rather seems to be appropriate to assess inflammatory processes in infections and/or autoimmune diseases.

Urinary excretion of thiol compounds in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

The objective of the present study was to assess the excretion of urinary thiol compounds in patients with active and inactive rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Urinary thiol compounds were measured by the method of Kokonov (M. T. Kokonov, Lab. Delo 5:273-276, 1965) in 51 outpatients with active and inactive RA. Those with active disease had significantly higher levels of urinary thioamine excretion.