Archaeal Community Structures in the Solfataric Acidic Hot Springs with Different Temperatures and Elemental Compositions

Archaeal 16S rRNA gene compositions and environmental factors of four distinct solfataric acidic hot springs in Kirishima, Japan were compared. The four ponds were selected by differences of temperature and total dissolved elemental concentration as follows: (1) Pond-A: 93°C and 1679 mg L−1, (2) Pond-B: 66°C and 2248 mg L−1, (3) Pond-C: 88°C and 198 mg L−1, and (4) Pond-D: 67°C and 340 mg L−1. In total, 431 clones of 16S rRNA gene were classified into 26 phylotypes. In Pond-B, the archaeal diversity was the highest among the four, and the members of the order Sulfolobales were dominant. The Pond-D also showed relatively high diversity, and the most frequent group was uncultured thermoacidic spring clone group. In contrast to Pond-B and Pond-D, much less diverse archaeal clones were detected in Pond-A and Pond-C showing higher temperatures. However, dominant groups in these ponds were also different from each other. The members of the order Sulfolobales shared 89% of total clones in Pond-A, and the uncultured crenarchaeal groups shared 99% of total Pond-C clones. Therefore, species compositions and biodiversity were clearly different among the ponds showing different temperatures and dissolved elemental concentrations

Effects of Growth Temperature on Fatty Acid Composition of Psychrotolerant Bacteria

第2回極域科学シンポジウム/第33回極域生物シンポジウム 11月18日（金） 統計数理研究所 3階セミナー室

Efficacy and safety of Micafungin in Febrile NeutropenicPatients Treated for Hematological Malignancies

Objective: The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate the efficacy and safety of micafungin (MCFG) in empirical therapy for febrile neutropenic patients for whom antibiotic therapy was not effective for hematological malignancies. Patients and Methods: Twenty-three hematological patients aged 27-82 years with febrile neutropenia for whom antibiotic therapy was not effective were enrolled in this study and responses to treatment were evaluated. Results: Treatment success rate was 73.9%. Treatment success rates by primary diagnosis were 77.8% in patients with AML, 50.0% in patients with NHL and 87.5% in patients with other diseases. Moreover, MCFG at a dose of 100 mg or more have a tendency to be effective. One or more adverse events occurred in five (27.7%) of the patients during the study. All of these adverse events were below grade 2 toxicity. Conclusions: Although the number of patients studied was limited, MCFG as a monotherapy seems to be effective and safe as an empirical therapy in patients with febrile neutropenia. However, further investigation using large-scale studies is needed. This study demonstrated the clinical efficacy and safety of MCFG in patients with febrile neutropenia and with hematological malignancies

Effect of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor on IL-12 p40 production during chemotherapy for B-cell lineage non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients

Interleukin (IL)-12 is a 70-kDa cytokine comprised of two disulfide-linked proteins (p35 and p40) and is essential for the initiation of effective immune response. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) affects the balance in the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines. We investigated the serum IL-12 p40 and IL-12 Mix (p40 and p70) production in 28 patients with B-cell lineage non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) treated with chemotherapy (e.g., CHOP regimen) with or without G-CSF administration and eight healthy volunteers. We found that serum levels of IL-12 p40 (191.2 ± 150.0 pg/mL) and IL-12 Mix (277.4 ± 274.5 pg/mL) in the patients before chemotherapy were higher than those in the healthy volunteers (IL-12 p40: 76.4 ± 25.3 pg/mL, IL-12 Mix: 48.5 ± 33.4 pg/mL) (P = 0.04 and 0.02, respectively). Next, we examined the serum IL-12 p40 and IL-12 Mix levels in nine patients receiving chemotherapy with administration of G-CSF (CG group, n = 9) and without G-CSF (C group, n = 9). Serum IL-12 p40 and IL-12 Mix levels were decreased on 10 d after chemotherapy in both groups, and those in CG groups were significantly lower than those in C group. These results indicated that administration of G-CSF decreased serum IL-12 p40 and IL-12 Mix levels. Overall survival (OS) at 24 months was not significantly different in the two groups (58.3% in group C vs. 80.0% in group CG, P = 0.67). However, the survival rate of patients at clinical stages III and IV in CG group (n = 6, 66.0%) was significantly better than that of patients in C group (n = 4, 25.0%) (P = 0.02). Long-term administration of G-CSF appears to influence the survival rate by reducing immunosuppressive IL-12 p40 production