Study of Human Tumour Draining Lymph Node Homing Receptors in Breast Cancer Patients

The cell surface molecule LEU-8 has been reported to identify the human homologue of the MEL-14 lymph node homing receptor by sequence comparison of the two antigens (Camerini et al., 1989). However, it has never been directly tested for its ability to specifically detect lymphocytes which home to human lymph nodes. This study was designed to generate monoclonal antibodies against the nodal lymphocytes in order to identify marker unique to the node, and to compare this with the homing function suggested for the LEU-8 marker. At the same time, LEU-8 was tested for a homing function in humans by comparison of its relative expression in lymph node and peripheral blood of breast cancer patients using two-colour flow cytometry. This work also set out to assess local immunological responses in the nodes and peripheral blood, and to analyse the expression in the nodes and its relationship to the expression pattern of the human lymphocyte homing receptor CD44. The antigens of human nodal lymphocytes identified by three monoclonal antibodies were not unique to the node, and no specific homing molecule was identified despite a logical strategy. The monoclonal antibodies produced were to B cell antigens that were unlikely to be MHC Class I or immunoglobulin. B cells were not quantitatively dominant in the human lymph node but were highly immunodominant. The data showed that CD3+ or CD 19+ cells did not express LEU-8 preferentially in the human lymph node, and indeed the latter showed a preference for location in the blood. LEU-8 was irrelevant to T lymphocyte homing and a negative indicator of B cell homing. Taken together, there was no functional evidence from this study that the LEU-8 cDNA homologous to mouse MEL-14 antigen does indeed encode a human lymph node homing receptor. In the local lymph nodes of breast cancer patients, the activation marker IL-2 receptor (Tac) was present on a higher proportion on CD4+ than CD8+ cells in two axillary lymph nodes (near and far from their draining tissue) and peripheral blood. In contrast, the percentage of CD8+ T cells bearing the activation marker HLA DR was higher than the percentage of HLA DR expressing CD4+ T cells in all cases. CD44 was preferentially located in the human lymph node, but did not show significance difference between lymph node and peripheral blood such that was difficult to deduce homing. This study suggest that CD44 might be a homing receptor in humans, but more data is required for statistical validity. More interestingly both CD44 and LEU-8 were present on primary and metastatic tumour cells, and may therefore have prognostic and diagnostic potential in primary and metastatic breast carcinomas

Generation of subspecies level-specific microbial diagnostic microarrays using genes amplified from subtractive suppression hybridization as microarray probes

The generation of microarray probes with specificity below the species level is an ongoing challenge, not least because the high-throughput detection of microorganisms would be an efficient means of identifying environmentally relevant microbes. Here, we describe how suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) can be applied to the production of microarray probes that are useful for microbial differentiation at the subspecies level. SSH was used to initially isolate unique genomic sequences of nine Salmonella strains, and these were validated in quadruplicate by microarray analysis. The results obtained indicate that a large group of genes subtracted by SSH could serve together, as one probe, for detecting a microbial subspecies. Similarly, the whole microbial genome (not subjected to SSH) can be used as a species-specific probe. The detailed methods described herein could be used and adapted for the estimation of any cultivable bacteria from different environments

Imaging findings for intravascular large B-cell lymphoma of the liver

Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) is a rare subtype of extranodal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that most commonly involves the central nervous system and skin. To our knowledge, no state-of-the art imaging findings have been reported for hepatic IVLBCL in the English literature. We report the first case of hepatic involvement of IVLBCL along with a literature review

Spatio-Temporal Variability of Aerosol Optical Depth, Total Ozone and NO(2)Over East Asia: Strategy for the Validation to the GEMS Scientific Products

In this study, the spatio-temporal variability of aerosol optical depth (AOD), total column ozone (TCO), and total column NO2(TCN) was identified over East Asia using long-term datasets from ground-based and satellite observations. Based on the statistical results, optimized spatio-temporal ranges for the validation study were determined with respect to the target materials. To determine both spatial and temporal ranges for the validation study, we confirmed that the observed datasets can be statistically considered as the same quantity within the ranges. Based on the thresholds of R-2>0.95 (temporal) and R>0.95 (spatial), the basic ranges for spatial and temporal scales for AOD validation was within 30 km and 30 min, respectively. Furthermore, the spatial scales for AOD validation showed seasonal variation, which expanded the range to 40 km in summer and autumn. Because of the seasonal change of latitudinal gradient of the TCO, the seasonal variation of the north-south range is a considerable point. For the TCO validation, the north-south range is varied from 0.87 degrees in spring to 1.05 degrees in summer. The spatio-temporal range for TCN validation was 20 min (temporal) and 20-50 km (spatial). However, the nearest value of satellite data was used in the validation because the spatio-temporal variation of TCN is large in summer and autumn. Estimation of the spatio-temporal variability for respective pollutants may contribute to improving the validation of satellite products