Trisomy D2 in a 21/2 years old girl (47,XX,14+).

A 21/2 years old girl with multiple malformations is reported. The cytogenetic and autoradiographic investigations show a trisomy D2(14). In the following symptoms the clinical signs are different from the syndrome of a trisomy D1(13): There are no malformations of the eyes, no inborn deafness, no malformations of the heart and kidneys, no hypoplasia of the thumb. The child does not show any signs of capillary haemangioma and no aplasia of the root of the bony nose. The malformation of the bony pelvis, like a splitted pelvis with very narrow high iliococcygeals is remarkable. The child shows all the mainsymptoms of the other autosomal trisomies: oligophrenia, craniofacial dysmorphia, hypotonia of the muscle tonus and dysplasia of the ears. © 1970 Springer-Verlag

Generation of HIV-1-specific T cells by electroporation of T-cell receptor RNA

BACKGROUND: HIV-1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes, which recognize conserved epitopes of the virus, are correlated with prolonged survival of infected individuals. Unfortunately, most HIV-1-infected patients are unable to generate such an immune response. Antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes can be generated by T-cell receptor transfer. This is commonly done by retroviral transduction, which is complicated and poses the threat of stable genetic alteration of autologous cells. METHODS: We reprogrammed primary CD8+ T cells by electroporation of RNA, which encoded an HIV-1-pol- and an HIV-1-gag-specific T-cell receptor recognizing the human leukocyte antigen-A2 restricted epitopes ILKEPVHGV and SLYNTVATL, respectively. RESULTS: These reprogrammed cells specifically produced the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-2, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interferon-gamma after stimulation with target cells that presented the corresponding peptides, and were able to lyse these targets efficiently and specifically. The lytic avidities of the HIV-1-pol- and HIV-1-gag-TCR-RNA-electroporated CD8+ T cells were within the same range than those of the parental cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Most importantly, HIV-1-gag-reprogrammed T cells recognized target cells that presented endogenously processed antigen, which resulted in cytokine production and lysis. CONCLUSION: It is shown here for the first time that functional transfer of virus-specific T-cell receptors by RNA electroporation is feasible, and represents an innovative, safe, and easy method to generate virus-specific T cells, avoiding the risks of retroviral transduction