Prognostic significance of Lewis y antigen in resected stage I and II non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

The role of Lewis y (Le(y)) antigen expression has been studied extensively in predicting the outcome of various malignancies. We evaluated the expression of Le(y) and its relationship to survival, disease-free survival and other clinicopathologic variables in patients with stage I and II non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the prognostic significance of Le(y) antigen expression in a large group of well characterized patients with resected stage I and II NSCLC.

PATIENTS

Two hundred and sixty patients with surgically resected stage I (n = 193) and II (n = 67) NSCLC with at least 5-year follow-up were identified.

RESULTS

The median survival for patients with negative expression of Le(y) (< 50% of cells that were positive) was 46 months, whereas for those with positive expression of Le(y) (> or = 50%), the median survival was 54 months (p = 0.99). The disease-free survival for patients with Le(y)(-) expression was 39 months and 34 months for patients with Le(y)(+) expression (p = 0.3).

CONCLUSIONS

We found no relationship between loss of blood group antigen A and expression of Le(y). No statistically significant difference was found in survival between positive and negative expression of Le(y) antigen in patients with resected stage I and II NSCLC.

Comparative analysis of antibody and cell-mediated autoimmunity to transaldolase and myelin basic protein in patients with multiple sclerosis

Antibody and T cell-mediated immune responses to oligodendroglial autoantigens transaldolase (TAL) and myelin basic protein (MBP) were examined in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Immunohistochemical studies of postmortem brain sections revealed decreased staining by MBP- and TAL-specific antibodies in MS plaques, indicating a concurrent loss of these antigens from demyelination sites. By Western blot high titer antibodies to human recombinant TAL were found in 29/94 sera and 16/23 cerebrospinal fluid samples from MS patients. Antibodies to MBP were undetectable in sera or cerebrospinal fluid of these MS patients. Proliferative responses to human recombinant TAL (stimulation index [SI] = 2.47+/-0.3) were significantly increased in comparison to MBP in 25 patients with MS (SI = 1.37+/-0.1; P < 0.01). After a 7-d stimulation of PBL, utilization of any of 24 different T cell receptor Vbeta gene segments in response to MBP was increased less than twofold in the two control donors and six MS patients investigated. In response to TAL-H, while skewing of individual Vbeta genes was also less than twofold in healthy controls, usage of specific Vbeta gene segments was differentially increased ranging from 2.5 to 65.9-fold in patients with MS. The results suggest that TAL may be a more potent immunogen than MBP in MS.

Cytokine regulation of HIV replication induced by dendritic cell-CD4-positive T cell interactions

It has been established that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication occurs throughout the course of disease in the lymphoid tissue. We have developed a model system to study the effect of cytokines and other agents on HIV replication using cocultures of DCs and T cells that reflect the cell-to-cell interactions that occur in the microenvironment of lymphoid tissue. Dendritic cells from peripheral blood, when pulsed with small amounts of HIV, induce infection in autologous, unstimulated CD4-positive T cells. Using this system, cytokines, anti-cytokine antibodies, and inhibitors of cellular activation were added to cultures and the effects on cellular proliferation and activation and HIV production were measured. Cytokines that increased T cell proliferation, such as IL-2 and IL-4, enhanced HIV replication, while the effect of IL-12 was more complex. HIV production was inhibited by blocking endogenously produced IL-2, as well as by adding IL-10, which blocks IL-2 secretion, antigen-presenting cell function, and T cell activation. Proinflammatory cytokines induced modest enhancement of viral replication in cocultures of HIV-pulsed DCs and CD4-positive T cells. Thus, using a model of HIV replication that more closely mimics the in vivo microenvironment of lymphoid tissue may allow a better analysis of the effect of cytokines and cytokine networks, as well as agents that modify immune activation on HIV replication.

erbB-2 and myc oncoproteins in sera and tumors of breast cancer patients

This study compares the prevalence of elevated serological levels of erbB-2 and myc proteins in 36 breast cancer patients and 25 healthy, ambulatory female controls. The controls were frequency matched to the cases by age and ethnicity. Oncoprotein levels were determined blind to the "case-control status" of the individual from whom the specimen was derived. Corresponding tissue levels were examined in tumors of the 13 cases from whom sufficient tissue was available. Serum oncoproteins were elevated as follows: erbB-2 in one control (4%) compared with nine cases (25%; PFisher's exact = 0.03); myc in no control (0%) compared with seven cases (19%; PFisher's exact = 0.02). Elevated serum levels of erbB-2 or myc oncoproteins were detected in four of the seven cases (57.1%) of in situ cancer without evidence of infiltration. In all cases with elevated serum oncoproteins where tumor tissue was available, the corresponding protein was elevated in the tumor. The three cases who had elevated preoperative serum oncoprotein levels and from whom it was possible to procure postoperative specimens had normal postoperative serum oncoprotein levels. We conclude that (a) erbB-2 and myc oncoproteins are elevated in a proportion of breast cancer patients, (b) the tumor seems to be the source of the serum elevation, and (c) these proteins may be useful as part of a panel of biomarkers of early malignant disease.

Localization of basic fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor in human glial neoplasms

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are widely recognized as a family of molecules that can influence cell proliferation and tissue neovascularization. Although the basic form of FGF (bFGF) has been found to enhance the growth of primary cell cultures made from human glial tumors, its exact role in vivo has been unclear. Likewise, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a newly discovered addition to the growing list of angiogenic factors but, unlike bFGF, VEGF has a unique specificity for endothelial cells and possesses the properties required for secretion. In this study, we localized both basic FGF and VEGF in human gliomas to assess their possible role in the pathogenesis of these neoplasms. Retrospective analysis was performed using glial neoplasms that were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin and embedded in paraffin. The immunocytochemical procedures were performed using specific polyclonal antibodies raised against the amino terminus of bFGF and VEGF, respectively. Immunoreactive (IR) basic FGF was localized in normal, reactive, and neoplastic astrocytes as well as selected populations of normal neurons. IR VEGF, in contrast, was present primarily in neurons of normal brain, but was also found in both reactive and neoplastic astrocytes. In adjacent 4-microns tissue sections, strong immunoreactivity for VEGF and bFGF was found within the same populations of cells. In areas of endothelial proliferation, the strongest immunoreactivity for both growth factors was found within large anaplastic astrocytes that surrounded abnormal blood vessels. Our data support the hypothesis that VEGF may complement the actions of basic FGF in glial neoplasia.