Clostridium septicum can cause distant myonecrosis in patients with ovarian cancer

A case report of lethal distant myonecrosis with gas gangrene is presented. Blood cultures and tissue biopsies revealed Clostridium septicum. The 55-year-old female patient presented with recurrent ovarian cancer of transitional cell type, initially diagnosed as FIGO IIb in January 2011, with hepatic metastasis and invasion of the ceacal wall. She underwent several operations, including partial bowel and liver resection in September 2011. Second-line therapy with topotecan three weekly was started in October 2011 while the patient was still in the hospital. During this chemotherapy, the patient revealed symptoms of severe pain and erythema of the skin. Within hours she died of sceptic shock after a debridement. The diagnosis was gas gangrene due to Clostridium septicum. Because it is a rare and severe disease and the time slot in which therapeutic measures can be taken is narrow, we discuss clinical symptoms and therapeutic options.

ALDH-2 deficiency increases cardiovascular oxidative stress--evidence for indirect antioxidative properties

Mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH-2) reduces reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation related to toxic aldehydes; additionally, it provides a bioactivating pathway for nitroglycerin. Since acetaldehyde, nitroglycerin, and doxorubicin treatment provoke mitochondrial oxidative stress, we used ALDH-2(-/-) mice and purified recombinant human ALDH-2 to test the hypothesis that ALDH-2 has an indirect antioxidant function in mitochondria. Antioxidant capacity of purified ALDH-2 was comparable to equimolar doses of glutathione, cysteine, and dithiothreitol; mitochondrial oxidative stress was comparable in C57Bl6 and ALDH-2(-/-) mice after acute challenges with nitroglycerin or doxorubicin, whereas chronic acetaldehyde, nitroglycerin, and doxorubicin treatment dose-dependently increased mitochondrial ROS formation and impaired endothelial function to a greater extent in ALDH-2(-/-) mice. Maximal nitroglycerin dose applied in vivo lead to a "super-desensitized" nitroglycerin response in isolated ALDH-2(-/-) aortas, inaccessible in C57Bl6 mice. Our results suggest that ALDH-2 has an indirect antioxidative property independent of its thiol-moiety in disease states of cardiovascular oxidative stress.