Juvenile dyslipidemia as early risk factor for atherosclerosis. Analysis of a sample of school age boys.

Atherosclerosis appears already in the first years of life. Several factors may accelerate the age of onset and the gravity of its symptoms. Particular importance is attributed to lipid metabolism in youth. Ther Authors studied the rates of cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, apolipoproteins AI and B100, lipoprotein a and several anamnestic and anthropometric parameters in a group of 103 young people of Rome, between 16 and 19 years of age. They processed these data statistically and compared them with those of a similar American group. The results showed a tendency to fatness in the Italian sample, and to dyslipidosis in the American group. Besides, the subjects who had been breast-fed presented higher blood levels of cholesterol and apolipoprotein B100

Effect of preseasonal enzyme potentiated desensitisation (EPD) on plasma-IL-6 and IL-10 of grass pollen-sensitive asthmatic children.

EPD is a method of preventive immunotherapy which employs b-glucuronidase as a biological response modifier. Plasma IL-6 and IL-10 were measured before a single injection of EPD, 24 hours later and 15 days after in a group of 17 children suffering from grass pollen asthma. 17 normal untreated children were used as controls. Although the study was conducted before the grass pollen season when the allergic children were free of symptoms, their plasma IL-6 and IL-10 were significantly elevated before the injection of EPD. 24 hours after treatment the plasma IL-10 had increased significantly and there was also a slight rise in IL-6. 15 days after treatment IL-6 had fallen to normal but IL-10 was still elevated. These findings suggest antigen-specific and non-specific mechanisms by which EPD may produce clinical improvement

[Production of PSA by breast adenocarcinoma cells: preliminary results].

PSA has been measured out with highly sensitive method both in liquid of mammary cysts and in cytosol of neoplastic cells. Our data point out that dysplastic, metaplastic and anaplastic breast epithelial cells produce PSA. Such production is, probably, related to expression of hormonal receptors

[The intracystic concentration of MCA in the fluid from large breast cysts].

75 patients with breast gross cystic disease and no cancer have been included in the study. For each patients serous and intracystic concentrations of MCA have been measured. The aim of the study is to assess whether if a relation between intracystic concentration of the marker and resistance and capability of cellular reproduction exists (confirmed by the release of the cyst). The analysis of intracystic values shows that synthesis of MCA is an intrinsic peculiarity of cytologic kind. It is apparently independent from inflammatory or hemorrhagic contemporary processes

Regulated expression of MUC1 epithelial antigen in erythropoiesis

MUC1 is a large surface glycoprotein expressed by epithelial cells, which is overexpressed and aberrantly glycosylated in carcinomas. MUC1 is involved in epithelial cell interactions and appears to function as a signal-transducing molecule. The finding that MUC1 can also be expressed in the haematopoietic lineages prompted us to further investigate the possible function(s) of this molecule in haematopoietic cells. In bone marrow differentiating cells, MUC1 was strongly and selectively expressed during erythropoiesis; it was also weakly expressed during megakaryocytopoiesis and granulomonocytopoiesis; however, no correlation between MUC1 and differentiation marker expression was observed in these lineages. In vitro CD34+ cells, induced towards erythroid differentiation, acquired MUC1 transiently, while expressing increasing levels of the lineage marker glycophorin A. MUC1 was absent in the circulating erythrocytes. During erythropoiesis, MUC1 expression was transcriptionally regulated and the molecule underwent phosphorylation. To investigate the possible role of MUC1 during erythropoiesis, we studied the ability of MUC1 to act as ligand for cell-cell interaction. The sialylated MUC1 glycoforms selectively expressed on erythroid cells were able to bind the macrophage-restricted molecule sialoadhesin. These results suggest that MUC1 can function as a cross-talk molecule between the erythroblasts and the surrounding cells during erythropoiesis