1,720,974 research outputs found
The acute promyelocytic leukemia-specific PML/RAR alpha fusion protein reduces the frequency of commitment to apoptosis upon growth factor deprivation of GM-CSF-dependent myeloid cells.
Tyrosine Kinase-Inhibiting phytoestrogens and their Synthetic derivatives produce cell cycle arrests and apoptosis in in vitro cultured human tumor cells
IgG Subclass Deficiency and Sinopulmonary Bacterial Infections in Patients With Alcoholic Liver Disease
Abnormalities in IgG subclass distribution were sought in serum samples and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from 15 patients with alcoholic liver disease to explain their increased susceptibility to bacterial respiratory infections. Serum IgG4 deficiency alone or in association with low IgG2 levels was revealed in approximately 30% of patients with alcoholic liver disease. This fact prompted us to further investigate the immunoglobulin concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, paying special attention to the distribution of IgA and IgG subclasses. IgA levels were found to be normal or slightly elevated. However, there were substantial defects in total IgG and IgG1 concentrations, often associated with reduced IgG2 and IgG4 levels, in approximately 70% of patients with alcoholic liver disease, which proved to be closely correlated with the number and type (pneumonia) of bacterial respiratory infections. A prospective study of intravenous immunoglobulin substitutive therapy involving two patients with recurrent pneumonia and very low serum IgG2 values demonstrated a reduction in the number of respiratory infectious episodes as well as an increase in both serum and, to a lesser extent, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid IgG1 and IgG2 levels. We identified immune defects that may represent an important pathogenetic mechanism that, when considered together with the alcohol-related suppression of alveolar macrophage and ciliary functions and the inhibition of leukocyte migration into the lungs, should help clarify the complex relationships between alcohol and immune defense
La sopravvivenza per cancro in Umbria. 1978-82 e 1994-98.
Dati del Registro Tumori Umbro di Popolazion
T-lymphocyte activation pathways in alcoholic liver disease.
Immune system derangement in cirrhotic patients with evidence of malnutrition is a well-recognized characteristic of chronic alcohol abuse. However, in vitro studies on cellular immune function performed with lectin mitogens have produced conflicting results. The recent development of more accurate immunological techniques for studying lymphocyte transformation, that use monoclonal antibodies directed against surface structures (CD3 and CD2) involved in antigen recognition, as well in adhesion functions, prompted us to study discrete in vitro T-cell hypo-responsiveness in a series of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) patients with no evidence of malnutrition or hepatic cirrhosis. The results indicated that the CD2 pathway is markedly defective in ALD T lymphocytes, accompanied by reduced interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor expression upon in vitro activation. This defect cannot be reversed by the addition of recombinant IL-2 (rIL-2) or rIL-1. Faulty intracellular signal transduction by protein kinase C (PKC) and defective intracellular Ca2+ mobilization may be responsible for the CD2 pathway impairment. The addition of small amounts of phorbol 12-myristate, 13-acetate, but not Ca2+ ionophore A23187, is able to overcome the defect, thereby suggesting a direct PKC involvement. The hypothesis of a direct ethanol effect on transmembrane signal transduction systems is suggested by the demonstration of an expansion of circulating virgin (naive) T cells (CD3+/UCHL1-low) that binds tyrosine phosphatase (CD45RA antigen) on their surface
The acute promyelocytic leukemia PML/RARa protein affects differentiation and survival of myeloid precursor cells
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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