Selective Removal of Radioactive Cesium from Nuclear Waste by Zeolites: On the Origin of Cesium Selectivity Revealed by Systematic Crystallographic Studies

Selective ion-exchange with zeolites has been considered as one of the most promising means to remove a radioactive isotope of cesium, ¹³⁷Cs, present in low concentration in seawater. However, there has been no report on the fundamental structure–property relation of zeolite-based Cs ion-exchangers. In this study, we investigate the origin of the selectivity of the radioactive cesium isotope in zeolite frameworks using zeolite A (LTA) as a model system. We prepared seven single crystals of fully dehydrated and partially cesium exchanged Zeolite A (LTA) with different Cs⁺/Na⁺ ratios. Their single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments revealed the significant differences in the degree of exchange and the site selectivity of Cs⁺ ions depending on the initial Cs⁺ concentrations in given ion exchange solutions. The degree of Cs⁺-ion exchange increases from 15.8 to 44.2% as the initial Cs⁺ concentration increases and the Na⁺ content decreases. In addition, it was found that Cs⁺ ions are energetically preferred and occluded in the center of eight-oxygen rings. With this finding, we tested the Cs adsorption capacity of pure zeolite Rho which has much more eight-oxygen rings than zeolite A along with commercial faujasite-type zeolite and titanosilicate from deionized water and seawater. Zeolite Rho showed significantly better performance on the Cs removal in the presence of high salt contents (i.e., seawater) than faujasite-type zeolite and titanosilicate

Interleukin 12 gene therapy of cancer by peritumoral injection of transduced autologous fibroblasts: Outcome of a phase I study

A phase I dose-escalation clinical trial of peritumoral injections of interleukin 12 (IL-12)-transduced autologous fibroblasts was performed in patients with disseminated cancer for whom effective treatment does not exist. The goals of this study were to assess the safety and toxicities as well as the efficacy, and ancillarily the immunomodulatory effects, of peritumoral IL-12 gene transfer. Primary dermal fibroblasts cultured from the patients were transduced with retroviral vector carrying human IL-12 genes (p35 and p40) as well as the neomycin phosphotransferase gene (TFG-hIL-12-Neo). Patients received four injections at intervals of 7 days. Nine patients were enrolled in this dose-escalation study, with secreted IL-12 doses ranging from 300 ng/24 hr for the first three patients to 1000, 3000, and 5000 ng/24 hr for two patients in each subsequent dosage level. Although a definite statement cannot be made, there appears to be perturbation of systemic immunity. Also, the locoregional effects mediated by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and CD8(+) T cells were observed with tumor regression. Treatment-related adverse events were limited to mild to moderate pain at the injection site; clinically significant toxicities were not encountered. Transient but clear reductions of tumor sizes were observed at the injected sites in four of nine cases, and at noninjected distant sites in one melanoma patient. Hemorrhagic necrosis of tumors was observed in two melanoma patients. These data indicate that gene therapy by peritumoral injection of IL-12-producing autologous fibroblasts is feasible, and promising in patients with advanced cancer