Efficacy of the tobramycin - cotrimoxazole - cephalothin combination for febrile episodes in leukemic patients with granulocytopenia

The efficacy of the tobramycin-cotrimoxazole-cephalothin combination (TCC) for febrile episodes in acute leukemic patients in neutropenic phase was investigated. The results in 48 episodes were compared retrospectively with those obtained in 46 febrile episodes in the same type of patients treated with various combinations of antibiotics (VAC regimens). Positive responses were obtained in 79.2% of the episodes treated with TCC compared with 43.5% obtained in the episodes treated with VAC (P<0.025). Excluding the febrile episodes of unknown origin, there were positive responses in 76.9% and in 42.5% of episodes respectively (P<0.01). While in the VAC-treated group a positive response was found to be correlated with the number of circulating neutrophils, there was not such a close correlation in the TCC-treated group. The TXC combination has proved in our experience to be a safe and effective empiric treatment for infective episodes in acute leukemic patients

Bone marrow histological modifications induced by alpha interferon in hairy cell leukemia

This paper reports the bone marrow histological picture in 7 patients with hairy cell leukemia treated with recombinant interferon. Bone marrow biopsies were performed at diagnosis, after 1, 3 and 7 months from the beginning of treatment and at 12 months at treatment suspension. The main modifications observed were a conspicuous reduction of hairy cell infiltrate, profound hypoplasia induced by the drug, early evidence of focal erythropoiesis followed by the appearance of other hematopoietic series and a progressive reduction of the reticulum. The clinical response to interferon therapy was good in all the patients studied; however future studies will have to evaluate the duration of response after treatment suspension

Effect of granulocytic chalone on the growth rate of continuous cell lines propagated in vitro : a new assay system

The progress of research on granulocytic chalone has been hampered by a lack of reliable assay systems. This paper reports the use of continuous cell lines growing in liquid suspension culture as a new method for assessing the effect of granulocytic chalone on cell proliferation. Partially purified granulocytic chalone (PPGC) was added to cultures of a rat myeloid cell line (W25), a human myeloid cell line (HL60), a human B lymphocytic cell line (8392), and a human T lymphocytic cell line (8402). The growth rate of the target cell populations was directly assessed by serial cell counts. PPGC pretreatment resulted in a significant inhibition of cell proliferation of the 2 myeloid permanent cell lines, while the growth rate of the lymphocytic cell lines was not affected. Moreover, inhibition of cell proliferation was spontaneously reversed when PPGC treatment was discontinued. Since PPGC from ox leucocytes displayed an inhibitory effect on cell proliferation which was specific to the myeloid cells, spontaneously reversible and not species-specific, it appears to have all the essential properties of a granulocytic chalone