Atomic Bomb Irradiation-induced Leukemias Revisited : Summary Data of 50 Years-Long Term Follow Up Study on Survivors

Under the cooperation between Atomic Bomb Disease Institute (ABDI) of Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Institute of Nuclear Medicine of Hiroshima University and Radiation Effect Research Foundation (RERF), the Life Span Study (LSS) on 93,741 survivors (fixed cohort) and the Open City Study (OCS) on all survivors (unfixed) irrespective of whether they belonged to LSS or not, have been conducted in parallel over 45 years to ensure reliable case detection. For diagnosis and subtyping of detected leukemias, we adopted the FAB classifcation for acute leukemias and for exposure dose of individual survivors, the new dosimetry system 1986 (DS86). In LSS, 231 leukemia cases were analysed. There was strong evidence of radiation-induced risks for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), but not for adult T-cell leukemia (an endemic disease in Nagasaki area) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. There was also significant difference between three major types with respect to the effects of age at bombing and sex, and in the temporal pattern of the elevated risks. For AML the dose response function was non-linear, whereas there was no evidence against linearity for ALL and CML. The hypothesis of a 0.5 Gy threshold could be rejected for three major types of leukemia. Excess Absolute Risk (EAR) estimates in cases per 10,000 Person Year Sievert (PYSv) were 0.6, 1.1, 0.9 for ALL, AML and CML, respectively. The corresponding relative risk at 1.0 Sv were 9.1, 3.3, 6.2, respectively. Although childhood exposure <15 age at bombing apparently induced three major types, the agerelated highest risk was observed for ALL. In OCS, 413 cases with DS86 estimates were used for analysis. Type specific incidence rates were calculated indirectly by using the over all incidence of leukemia from LSS data and multiplying these values by the corresponding proportions of cases in OCS. In conjunction with LSS data, the effects of radiation were significantly greater on the incidences of ALL and CML than on that of AML. In the high dose group there was a strong evidence for shorter incubation time and faster decline of elevated risk for ALL and CML than for AML. AML risk was apparently persistent through 1980. Thus, the differential effects of atomic bomb irradiation in inducing three major types of leukemia with respect of age-related and temporal patterns provide us insights into human leukemogenesis. Further investigation on radiation leukememogenesis undoubtedly requires molecular approach to detect type-specific genetic abnormlities including oncogenes and anti-oncogenes

A Novel Mouse Model for Phenytoin-Induced Liver Injury: Involvement of Immune-Related Factors and P450-Mediated Metabolism

Drug-induced liver injury is an important issue for drug development and clinical drug therapy; however, in most cases, it is difficult to predict or prevent these reactions due to a lack of suitable animal models and the unknown mechanisms of action. Phenytoin (DPH) is an anticonvulsant drug that is widely used for the treatment of epilepsy. Some patients who are administered DPH will suffer symptoms of drug-induced liver injury characterized by hepatic necrosis. DPH-induced liver injury occurs in 1 in 1000 or 1 in 10 000 patients. Clinically, 75% of patients who develop liver injury develop a fever and 63% develop a rash. In this study, we established a mouse model for DPH-induced liver injury and analyzed the mechanisms for hepatotoxicity in the presence of immune-related or inflammation-related factors and metabolic activation. Female C57BL/6 mice were administered DPH for 5 days in combination with l-buthionine-S,R-sulfoximine. Then, the plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were increased, hepatic lesions were observed during the histological evaluations, the hepatic glutathione levels were significantly reduced, and the oxidative stress marker levels were significantly increased. The inhibition of cytochrome P450-dependent oxidative metabolism significantly suppressed the elevated plasma ALT levels and depleted hepatic glutathione. Among the innate immune factors, the hepatic mRNA levels of NACHT, LRR, pyrin domain-containing protein 3, interleukin-1β, and damage-associated molecular patterns were significantly increased. Prostaglandin E 1 treatment ameliorated the hepatic injury caused by DPH. In conclusion, cytochrome P450-dependent metabolic activation followed by the stimulation of the innate immune responses is involved in DPHinduced liver injury

Long-term monitoring of the short period SU UMa-type dwarf nova, V844 Herculis

We report on time-resolved CCD photometry of four outbursts of a short-period SU UMa-type dwarf nova, V844 Herculis. We successfully determined the mean superhump periods to be 0.05584(64) days, and 0.055883(3) for the 2002 May superoutburst, and the 2006 April-May superoutburst, respectively. During the 2002 October observations, we confirmed that the outburst is a normal outburst, which is the first recorded normal outburst in V844 Her. We also examined superhump period changes during 2002 May and 2006 April-May superoutbursts, both of which showed increasing superhump period over the course of the plateau stage. In order to examine the long-term behavior of V844 Her, we analyzed archival data over the past ten years since the discovery of this binary. Although photometry is not satisfactory in some superoutbursts, we found that V844 Her showed no precursors and rebrightenings. Based on the long-term light curve, we further confirmed V844 Her has shown almost no normal outbursts despite the fact that the supercycle of the system is estimated to be about 300 days. In order to explain the long-term light curves of V844 Her, evaporation in the accretion disk may play a role in the avoidance of several normal outbursts, which does not contradict with the relatively large X-ray luminosity of V844 Her.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted for PAS

In Vitro Study of the Independent and Combined Effects of Recombinant Human GM-CSF and G-CSF on Normal Bone Marrow Granulocytes : GM-CSF Enhances the Growth Effect but Suppresses the Terminal Maturation-inducing Effect of G-CSF

We studied the independent and combined effects of recombinant human granulocyte colony- stimularting factor (rhG-CSF) and recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) on the growth and maturation of neutrophilic granulocytes. Absolute granulocyte numbers, cellular composition, and neutrophil alkailne phosphatase (NAP) activity were examined after normal nonphagocytic bone marrow cells were cultured for seven days with rhG-CSF, rhGM-CSF, and a combination of both growth factors. The numbers of band and segmented forms produced in the cultures containing rhGM-CSF were significantly lower than in control cultures or those with rhG-CSF. When both rhGM-CSF and rhG-CSF were in the culture total granulocyte production was highest, but the increment of band and segmented forms produced by rhG-CSF alone was reduced. Neutrophil alkaline phosphatase (NAP), an enzyme marking terminal maturation, was increased by rhG-CSF alone, but not by rhGM-CSF alone. Cultures containing both CSFs showed significantly lowered NAP activity compared to those containing rhG-CSF alone. The decrement in NAP activity was proportionate to the amount of rhGM-CSF added. These results indicate that terminal maturation-inducing effect is a property of rhG-CSF but not of rhGM-CSF. In the presence of both GM-CSF and G-CSF, the growth of granulocytes is maximumly stimulated but the terminal maturation-inducing effect of rhG-CSF is suppressed

RUNX inhibitor suppresses graft‐versus‐host disease through targeting RUNX‐NFATC2 axis

Patients with refractory graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) have a dismal prognosis. Therefore, novel therapeutic targets are still needed to be identified. Runt-related transcriptional factor (RUNX) family transcription factors are essential transcription factors that mediate the essential roles in effector T cells. However, whether RUNX targeting can suppress, and GVHD is yet unknown. Here, we showed that RUNX family members have a redundant role in directly transactivating NFATC2 expression in T cells. We also found that our novel RUNX inhibitor, Chb-M’, which is the inhibitor that switches off the entire RUNX family by alkylating agent–conjugated pyrrole-imidazole (PI) polyamides, inhibited T-cell receptor mediated T cell proliferation and allogenic T cell response. These were designed to specifically bind to consensus RUNX-binding sequences (TGTGGT). Chb-M’ also suppressed the expression of NFATC2 and pro-inflammatory cytokine genes in vitro. Using xenogeneic GVHD model, mice injected by Chb-M’ showed almost no sign of GVHD. Especially, the CD4 T cell was decreased and GVHD-associated cytokines including tissue necrosis factor-α and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor were reduced in the peripheral blood of Chb-M’ injected mice. Taken together, our data demonstrates that RUNX family transcriptionally upregulates NFATC2 in T cells, and RUNX-NFATC2 axis can be a novel therapeutic target against GVHD

A RUNX-targeted gene switch-off approach modulates the BIRC5/PIF1-p21 pathway and reduces glioblastoma growth in mice

Glioblastoma is the most common adult brain tumour, representing a high degree of malignancy. Transcription factors such as RUNX1 are believed to be involved in the malignancy of glioblastoma. RUNX1 functions as an oncogene or tumour suppressor gene with diverse target genes. Details of the effects of RUNX1 on the acquisition of malignancy in glioblastoma remain unclear. Here, we show that RUNX1 downregulates p21 by enhancing expressions of BIRC5 and PIF1, conferring anti-apoptotic properties on glioblastoma. A gene switch-off therapy using alkylating agent-conjugated pyrrole-imidazole polyamides, designed to fit the RUNX1 DNA groove, decreased expression levels of BIRC5 and PIF1 and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest via p21. The RUNX1-BIRC5/PIF1-p21 pathway appears to reflect refractory characteristics of glioblastoma and thus holds promise as a therapeutic target. RUNX gene switch-off therapy may represent a novel treatment for glioblastoma

RUNX1 transactivates BCR-ABL1 expression in Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The emergence of tyrosine kinase inhibitors as part of a front-line treatment has greatly improved the clinical outcome of the patients with Ph⁺ acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, a portion of them still become refractory to the therapy mainly through acquiring mutations in the BCR-ABL1 gene, necessitating a novel strategy to treat tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)-resistant Ph⁺ ALL cases. In this report, we show evidence that RUNX1 transcription factor stringently controls the expression of BCR-ABL1, which can strategically be targeted by our novel RUNX inhibitor, Chb-M'. Through a series of in vitro experiments, we identified that RUNX1 binds to the promoter of BCR and directly transactivates BCR-ABL1 expression in Ph⁺ ALL cell lines. These cells showed significantly reduced expression of BCR-ABL1 with suppressed proliferation upon RUNX1 knockdown. Moreover, treatment with Chb-M' consistently downregulated the expression of BCR-ABL1 in these cells and this drug was highly effective even in an imatinib-resistant Ph⁺ ALL cell line. In good agreement with these findings, forced expression of BCR-ABL1 in these cells conferred relative resistance to Chb-M'. In addition, in vivo experiments with the Ph⁺ ALL patient-derived xenograft cells showed similar results. In summary, targeting RUNX1 therapeutically in Ph⁺ ALL cells may lead to overcoming TKI resistance through the transcriptional regulation of BCR-ABL1. Chb-M' could be a novel drug for patients with TKI-resistant refractory Ph⁺ ALL

Relationship between monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and radiation exposure in Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors.

Radiation exposure is a possible predisposing factor for monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), but the association has been uncertain. We investigated the relationship between radiation exposure and MGUS prevalence by using data from the M-protein screening for Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors between 1988 and 2004. Radiation exposure was assessed by exposure distance from the hypocenter and exposure radiation dose. We computed prevalence ratios (PRs) and the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) adjusting for exposure age and sex. A total of 1082 cases of MGUS were identified from 52 525 participants. MGUS prevalence was significantly higher in people exposed at distance within 1.5 km than beyond 3.0 km (PR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.1-1.9) among those exposed at age 20 years or younger, but it was not found among those exposed at age 20 years or older. MGUS prevalence was also significantly higher in people exposed to more than 0.1 Gy than those exposed to less than 0.01 Gy (PR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-2.8) among those exposed at age 20 years or younger. Thus, people exposed at younger age exhibited a significantly high risk of MGUS when exposed to a high radiation dose. There was no clear association between radiation exposure and the malignant progression of MGUS. Further detailed analysis is needed

Principle for the development of textile specialty products using material design

142-149Many kinds or specialty textile products have been commercialized and their importance in textile industry is growing. In the development of textile specialty products, material designing of the products is one of the most important working components. But there has been almost no literature in which principle of development using material design for textile specialty products is systematically discussed. This paper reports a method of material design for the development of apparel specialty fabrics, which is a knowledge-based total system by differential way. Selective examples o f knowledge data for material designing in terms of attributive items are presented with some examples of related specially technologie