RETROPERITONEAL SCHWANNOMA : A CASE REPORT AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Reported herein is a rare case of retroperitoneal schwannoma in a patient without von Recklinghausen's disease. This patient was free of symptoms, and the tumor was found by chance during a periodical physical examination. Complete excision of the tumor was performed, and as of this writing, 36 months after the operation, the patient is free of the disease. In addition, a review was carried out on the 121 cases of retroperitoneal schwannoma reported in the Japanese literature from 1981 to 1992. In this series, malignant tumors were seen in 26.4% of all cases, and when this tumor was found in association with von Recklinghausen's disease, the malignancy rate increased to 52.9%. Thirty seven percent of the patients with malignant tumors had died at the time of writing of their case report, and their mean survival period was 18 months after the first surgical treatment. All the patients with benign tumors underwent complete resection and had a good prognosis

Experimental Studies on Protective Effects of FK506 Against Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Purposes ; FK506 (strong immunosuppressive agent) was investigated experimentally whether to protect the hepatic IRI. Methods ; Warm ischemic experiment using pigs and rats were performed and examined whether FK506 is effective. Results ; The results obtained are as follows. 1. Warm ischemia allowed time of the pigs without FK506 was 150 minutes, but as for that of FK506 group, the extension of 30 minutes was got in 180 minutes. 2. Biliary excretion rate of BSP after reperfusion were better in the group of 180 minutes ischemia with FK506 than in without FK506 group. 3. Chemiluminescence intensity in the peripheral neutrophils and adhered and infiltrated leukocytes in the liver were suppressed markedly by FK506. 4. The vascular endothelium with the scanning electron microscope was relatively preserved in the FK506 group comparing to the placebo group on 30 minutes after reperfusion. 5. Stress gastric ulcer was controlled and myeloperoxidase activity in the gastric mucosa was suppressed by FK506. Conclusion ; Based on the results of theses experiments, it was suggested that FK506 has a protective effect on IRI by suppressing : the impairment of sinusoidal endothelial cells ; the activation of KCs ; the disturbance of micro-circulation ; oxidative stress ; inflammation ; and the accumulation of leukocytes

Isolation of cDNA Encoding 7H6-Reactive Polypeptide Defines a New Class of Protein with alpha-Helical Coiled-Coil Structure and DA-Box Similar to Yeast Chromosomal Segregation Proteins

7H6 monoclonal antibody was recently developed in our laboratory by im-munizing mice with a bile canaliculus-rich fraction of the rat liver. The anti-body reacted with a novel 155 Kd polypeptide designated 7H6 antigen that specifically localizes at tight junctions of various epithelia. Correlations of the paracellular barrier function of the tight junction with expression of the 7H6 antigen at the cell border have suggested important roles of this polypeptide for the maintenance of tight junctional functions. As the first step for the analysis of the antigen at the molecular level, we isolated a series of cDNA clones encod-ing 7H6-reactive polypeptides. Five clones were isolated by immunoscreening. Among them a clone designated RL5.3 which carries the largest 5.3Kb insert was characterized in this study. Both plaque screening and immunoblotting of the fusion protein produced by the RL5.3 clone with lysogen confirmed that the pro-tein specifically reacts with the 7H6 monoclonal antibody. Using DNA fragmentsof the RL5.3 clone, 21 clones were further identified. Studies with restriction enzymes and probe hybridization revealed that all the cDNA clones were derived from a single class of transcripts. A partial sequence identified one open reading frame with an α-helical coiled-coil structure and highly conserved aspartate (D)- alanine (A) residues with a helix-loop-helix structure corresponding to DA- box. Since this domain has been specifically found in yeast chromosomal segregation proteins (SMC1, CUT3 and CUT14), the polypeptide encoded by the RL5.3 clone provides the first rodent counterpart of these protein family. Yeast is known to be lethal when SMC and CUT proteins are deleted, suggesting essential roles of these proteins for cell cycle progression as a regulator for chromosomal segregation. Identification of a mammalian counterpart of this pro-tein family may give us some clues for a better understanding of fundamental regulatory mechanisms in the function of tigh junctions

Low-grade B-cell lymphoma presenting primarily in the bone marrow

Cases of low-grade B-cell lymphoma presenting primarily in the bone marrow are rare, and its clinicopathology remains unclear. We retrospectively examined patients with low-grade B-cell lymphoma presenting primarily in the bone marrow. Fourteen patients met the inclusion criteria, including 5 with lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (LPL), 3 with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, 2 with follicular lymphoma (FL), and 4 with low-grade B-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified (LGBCL-NOS). The median age was 69.5 years (range, 42-89 years), and a slight male predominance was noted (9 men and 5 women, 1.8: 1). Immunohistochemically, all cases were positive for CD20. One case was positive for CD138. Both cases of FL were positive for CD10 and B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2), and immunoglobulin heavy locus (IgH)/B-cell lymphoma 2 rearrangement was observed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The myeloid differentiation primary response gene (88) leucine to proline mutation was observed in 3 of 5 LPL, 1 of 2 FL, and 2 of 4 LGBCL-NOS patients. Paraproteinemia was observed in 10 patients; IgM and IgG paraproteinemia were observed in 6 and 3 patients, respectively. In this patient series, 3 patients had died at a median follow-up of 36.5 months; the cause of death of 1 LPL patient was malignant lymphoma itself. Thus, low-grade B-cell lymphoma presenting primarily in the bone marrow has various subtypes, and approximately one-third of the patients had LGBCL-NOS. The immunophenotypic features and myeloid differentiation primary response gene (88) leucine to proline mutation data of LGBCL-NOS suggested that some cases present with characteristics similar to those of LPL or marginal zone lymphoma

Radiosynthesis and in vivo evaluation of two imidazopyridineacetamides, [11C]CB184 and [11C]CB190, as a PET tracer for 18 kDa translocator protein: direct comparison with [11C](R)-PK11195

Objective: We report synthesis of two carbon-11 labeled imidazopyridines TSPO ligands, [11C]CB184 and [11C]CB190, for PET imaging of inflammatory process along with neurodegeneration, ischemia or brain tumor. Biodistribution of these compounds was compared with that of [11C]CB148 and [11C](R)-PK11195. Methods: Both [11C]CB184 and [11C]CB190 having 11C-methoxyl group on an aromatic ring were readily prepared using [11C]methyl triflate. Biodistribution and metabolism of the compounds were examined with normal mice. An animal PET study using 6-hydroxydopamine treated rats as a model of neurodegeneration was pursued for proper estimation of feasibility of the radioligands to determine neuroinflammation process. Results: [11C]CB184 and [11C]CB190 were obtained via O-methylation of corresponding desmethyl precursor using [11C]methyl triflate in radiochemical yield of 73 % (decay-corrected). In vivo validation as a TSPO radioligand was carried out using normal mice and lesioned rats. In mice, [11C]CB184 showed more uptake and specific binding than [11C]CB190. Metabolism studies showed that 36 % and 25 % of radioactivity in plasma remained unchanged 30 min after intravenous injection of [11C]CB184 and [11C]CB190, respectively. In the PET study using rats, lesioned side of the brain showed significantly higher uptake than contralateral side after i.v. injection of either [11C]CB184 or [11C](R)-PK11195. Indirect Logan plot analysis revealed distribution volume ratio (DVR) between the two sides which might indicate lesion-related elevation of TSPO binding. The DVR was 1.15 ± 0.10 for [11C](R)-PK11195 and was 1.15 ± 0.09 for [11C]CB184. Conclusion: The sensitivity to detect neuroinflammation activity was similar for [11C]CB184 and [11C](R)-PK11195

On-line microdevice for stress proteomics

The handing of the cells or tissues is essential for proteomics research or drug screening, where labor is not avoidable. The steps of cell wash, protein extraction, protein denaturing are complicated procedures in conventional method using centrifugation and pipetting in the laboratory. This is the bottle-neck for proteome research. To solve these problems, we propose to utilize the nanotechnology, which will improve the proteomics methodology. Utilizing the nanotechnology, we developed a novel microseparation system, where centrifugation and pipetting are needless. This system has a nanostructured microdevice, by which the cell handling, protein extraction, and antibody assay can be performed. Since cell transfer is needless, all cells are corrected without any loss during the cell-pretreatment procedures, which allowed high reproducibility and enabled the detection of low amount of protein expression. Utilizing the microdevice, we analyzed the stress induced proteins. We further succeeded the screening of food that was useful for immunity and found that an extraction from seaweed promoted the apoptosis of T-lymphoblastic cells. Here, we present an on-line microdevice for stress proteomics

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead