アソビ ニヨル ニンゲンケイセイ

論

External iliac venous aneurysm in a pregnant woman: a case report

AbstractWe report an external iliac venous aneurysm in a young pregnant woman who was diagnosed incidentally by ultrasound scanning. The aneurysm was successfully treated by tangential aneurysmectomy and lateral venorrhaphy. Primary iliac venous aneurysm is a rare vascular abnormality. The clinical significance of the disease is unknown. However, embolism, rupture, and thrombosis might occur as they can occur with popliteal venous aneurysm. In fact, three of four reported patients with iliac venous aneurysms had a thromboembolic event. For those reasons, prophylactic treatment is indicated. This is the first patient with an iliac venous aneurysm to be diagnosed without complication

IL-17F Induces CCL20 in Bronchial Epithelial Cells

IL-17F plays a crucial role in airway inflammatory diseases including asthma, but its function has not been fully elucidated. CCL20 is also involved in allergic airway inflammation, while its regulatory mechanisms remain to be defined. To further identify a novel role of IL-17F, the expression of CCL20 by IL-17F in bronchial epithelial cells and the signaling mechanisms involved were investigated. Bronchial epithelial cells were stimulated with IL-17F, and the levels of CCL20 gene and protein measured, with the effects of the addition of various kinase inhibitors and siRNAs also investigated. IL-17F significantly induced the expression of CCL20 gene and protein. Pretreatment with inhibitors for MEK1/2, Raf1 and MSK1, and overexpression of a Raf1 dominant-negative mutant significantly diminished IL-17F-induced CCL20 production. Moreover, transfection of the siRNAs targeting MSK1, p90RSK, and CREB blocked CCL20 expression. These findings suggest that IL-17F is able to induce CCL20 via Raf1-MEK1/2-ERK1/2-MSK1/p90RSK-CREB signaling pathway in bronchial epithelial cells. The IL-17F/CCL20 axis may be a novel pharmacological target for asthma

Toll like receptor-3 ligand poly-ICLC promotes the efficacy of peripheral vaccinations with tumor antigen-derived peptide epitopes in murine CNS tumor models

BACKGROUND: Toll-like receptor (TLR)3 ligands serve as natural inducers of pro-inflammatory cytokines capable of promoting Type-1 adaptive immunity, and TLR3 is abundantly expressed by cells within the central nervous system (CNS). To improve the efficacy of vaccine strategies directed against CNS tumors, we evaluated whether administration of a TLR3 ligand, polyinosinic-polycytidylic (poly-IC) stabilized with poly-lysine and carboxymethylcellulose (poly-ICLC) would enhance the anti-CNS tumor effectiveness of tumor peptide-based vaccinations. METHODS: C57BL/6 mice bearing syngeneic CNS GL261 glioma or M05 melanoma received subcutaneous (s.c.) vaccinations with synthetic peptides encoding CTL epitopes- mEphA2 (671–679), hgp100 (25–33) and mTRP-2 (180–188) for GL261, or ovalbumin (OVA: 257–264) for M05. The mice also received intramuscular (i.m.) injections with poly-ICLC. RESULTS: The combination of subcutaneous (s.c.) peptide-based vaccination and i.m. poly-ICLC administration promoted systemic induction of antigen (Ag)-specific Type-1 CTLs expressing very late activation antigen (VLA)-4, which confers efficient CNS-tumor homing of vaccine-induced CTLs based on experiments with monoclonal antibody (mAb)-mediated blockade of VLA-4. In addition, the combination treatment allowed expression of IFN-γ by CNS tumor-infiltrating CTLs, and improved the survival of tumor bearing mice in the absence of detectable autoimmunity. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that poly-ICLC, which has been previously evaluated in clinical trials, can be effectively combined with tumor Ag-specific vaccine strategies, thereby providing a greater index of therapeutic efficacy

Inhibition of Hepatitis C Virus Replication and Viral Helicase by Ethyl Acetate Extract of the Marine Feather Star Alloeocomatella polycladia

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a causative agent of acute and chronic hepatitis, leading to the development of hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. We prepared extracts from 61 marine organisms and screened them by an in vitro fluorescence assay targeting the viral helicase (NS3), which plays an important role in HCV replication, to identify effective candidates for anti-HCV agents. An ethyl acetate-soluble fraction of the feather star Alloeocomatella polycladia exhibited the strongest inhibition of NS3 helicase activity, with an IC50 of 11.7 µg/mL. The extract of A. polycladia inhibited interaction between NS3 and RNA but not ATPase of NS3. Furthermore, the replication of the replicons derived from three HCV strains of genotype 1b in cultured cells was suppressed by the extract with an EC50 value of 23 to 44 µg/mL, which is similar to the IC50 value of the NS3 helicase assay. The extract did not induce interferon or inhibit cell growth. These results suggest that the unknown compound(s) included in A. polycladia can inhibit HCV replication by suppressing the helicase activity of HCV NS3. This study may present a new approach toward the development of a novel therapy for chronic hepatitis C

A validation of abstracted dive profiles relayed via the Argos satellite system: a case study of a loggerhead turtle

Satellite telemetry devices can record movement data of animals along with the environmental data. Such data are relayed remotely via satellite systems, but are constrained by the limited bandwidth availability. A satellite relay data logger (SRDL) that can abstract dive profiles and compress the data for transmission using a broken stick model (BSM) has been widely used in studies on dive behavior and physiology of marine animals. However, there is still uncertainty in the abstracted dive profiles. Here, we aimed to evaluate the certainty of abstracted dive profiles (via satellite communication) in terms of dive performance (dive depth, duration, and dive type) by comparing it with the actual dive data (from the retrieved tag) in a loggerhead turtle deployed with the SRDL throughout a 1.4-year foraging period. There was no significant difference in the maximum dive depth between the retrieved and satellite transmission data; however, there was a slight but significant difference in the dive duration. The dives from both datasets were classified into five types. Inconsistent dive classifications occurred in 1.7% of the data. There was no significant difference in the proportion of time spent diving between the retrieved and satellite transmission data for each type during the common recording period. In monthly scale comparisons, however, a significant difference was detected when the amount of data via satellite transmission was the smallest. Our results demonstrated that the dive data abstracted using BSM almost reconstructed the actual dive profiles with certainty in a loggerhead turtle, although slight inconsistencies were observed

A Multicenter, Open-label, Clinical Trial to Assess the Effectiveness and Safety of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Using Reduced-intensity Conditioning in Relapsed/refractory Anaplastic Large-cell Lymphoma in Children

No standard treatment for relapsed or refractory anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) has been established. This study is a multicenter, open-label trial to examine the effectiveness and safety of transplantation with reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) for patients under 20 years old with relapsed or refractory ALCL. We defined RIC as the administration of fludarabine (30 mg/m2/day) for five days plus melphalan (70 mg/m2/day) for two days and total body irradiation at 4 Gy, followed by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation