High expression of MDM2 protein and low rate of p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression in SCID mice Epstein Barr virus-induced lymphoproliferation.

To study the prevalence of p53 inactivation and MDM2/p21(WAFI/CIP1) expression in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-induced lymphoproliferation, 19 samples obtained after ip injection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from EBV-seropositive donors or lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) were analyzed. In all samples tested, overexpression of Ki-67 antigen was shown by immunohistochemistry, indicating a high proliferative index of SCID mice EBV-induced lymphoproliferation. P53 mutations were screened by functional assay in yeast in 14 samples. With this test, a p53-inactivating mutation was found in only one case; the remaining cases exhibited a wild-type p53 pattern. However, an accumulation of p53 protein was detected by immunohistochemistry in six of 19 samples. P21 expression was found in seven of 19 samples but was not correlated with the rate of p53 protein in tumors. In contrast, high levels of nuclear accumulation of MDM2 were found in all samples by immunohistochemistry. These results suggest that a high Ki-67 proliferative index in SCID mice EBV-induced lymphoproliferation is not due to the inactivation of p53 by mutation, but could be associated with an overexpression of MDM2, which would act by a p53-independent mechanism.(J Histochem Cytochem 47:1315-1321, 1999)

Time- and dose-dependent kinetics of all-trans-retinoic acid in rats after oral or intravenous administration(s).

The kinetics of all-trans-retinoic (RA) acid are known to be nonlinear. To clarify the mechanisms involved, RA kinetics were determined in four groups of rats: group 1 received a single 2-mg RA dose intravenously (N = 5); group 2 received the same treatment as group 1 after 12 days of oral RA (2 mg/day) (N = 6); group 3 received a single, oral 2-mg (N = 6) or 5-mg RA dose (N = 6); and group 4 (N = 5 + 3) received the same treatment as group 3 after 12 days of oral RA (2 mg/day). Blood samples, 10-12/animal, were taken during the 7 hr following the final dosage. Plasma RA concentrations were determined by liquid chromatography. Noncompartmental analysis showed that RA disposition after intravenous bolus dosing obeyed Michaelis-Menten (MM) kinetics in group 1 (no pretreatment) and linear kinetics in group 2 (pretreated), with a lower area under the concentration vs. time curve, which suggested time-dependent kinetics with autoinduction. The same autoinduction phenomenon was observed after oral dosing in groups 3 and 4. Moreover, the mean area under the concentration vs. time curve was not higher after 5 mg dosing than after 2 mg dosing, which indicated a saturable mechanism of absorption. Fitting the data to a three-compartment model with saturable absorption and elimination kinetics confirmed the autoinduction of RA elimination (maximal velocity of elimination = 3330 vs. 541 micrograms/hr, p = 0.006, MM constant KMe = 7.53 vs. 1.10 micrograms/ml, p = 0.006) after 12 days RA administration, and an MM absorption mechanism resulting in a saturable absorption (bioavailability F = 0.58 at 2 mg vs. 0.25 at 5 mg, group 3) that decreased after 12 days of RA treatment: the maximal velocity of absorption decreased from 1632 (group 3) to 631 micrograms/hr (group 4) (p = 0.02). The volume of distribution also decreased after pretreatment, which indicated a modification in tissular distribution (565 vs. 358 ml, p < 0.001, group 3 vs. 4).

Functional analysis of the p53 protein in AIDS-related non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and polymorphic lymphoproliferations.

Alteration of the tumour suppressor gene p53 is frequent in AIDS-related non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (AIDS-NHL), particularly in Burkitt's or Burkitt's-like lymphomas (BL/BLL). Since mechanisms of inactivation other than mutations have been advanced, the transcriptional activity of the p53 protein was studied in a functional assay in yeast in a series of AIDS-NHL lesions and compared with their morphology, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis detection of other p53 abnormalities, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) status, MDM-2 oncoprotein expression and c-MYC rearrangement. Polymorphic lymphoproliferations (PL), identified as precursors of NHL in HIV-patients, were also analysed in attempt to detect p53 modifications related to clonal progression. The functional assay detected p53 mutants in 40% (12/ 30) of the tumours: 50% (6/12) of BL/BLL, 40% (4/10) of diffuse large cell lymphomas (DLCL) and 25% (2/8) of PL. An oligoclonal or monoclonal population was identified in the two PL cases with mutant p53. An accumulation of the p53 protein was detected by IHC in 26% (8/30) of the tumours (five BL/BLL and three DLCL) and was associated with positive functional assay. In the 20 lesions tested by both of the screening methods for mutations, a p53 mutant pattern was detected in 55% of cases (11/20) and in 25% of cases (5/ 20) respectively with the functional assay and SSCP analysis of exons 5-8. There was no inverse correlation between the detection of EBV genome and the presence of p53 mutations and no overexpression of MDM-2 protein for the whole series. In conclusion, the functional assay was more sensitive than IHC and SSCP for the detection of p53 mutations in tumour samples. The mutations identified in AIDS-NHL lesions inactivate the p53 protein and in PL they could represent a selection of an aggressive clone.

Expression of p16/INK4a in posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorders.

It was recently demonstrated that classification of posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorders (PT-LPDs) into morphological and molecular categories is clinically relevant. It was also reported that PT-LPD not associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) had a more aggressive course than most lesions associated with EBV. Because the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16/INK4a has been reported to be frequently inactivated in high-grade lymphomas, we evaluated 17 PT-LPD to determine whether p16/INK4a expression could be correlated to morphology, EBV detection, and a Ki-67 labeling index. We demonstrated that tumors with no p16/INK4a expression (n = 8) had a predominantly monomorphic appearance, and most were EBV negative (respectively, 7/8 and 5/8), whereas lesions with p16/INK4a expression (n = 9) were mostly polymorphic PT-LPD (6/9) (P = 0.049) and associated with EBV (9/9) (P = 0.015). In particular, strong p16/INK4a expression was observed in atypical immunoblasts and Reed-Sternberg-like cells. Furthermore, the proliferation index was significantly higher in tumors lacking p16/INK4a expression than in other lesions (P = 0.0008). In conclusion, down-regulation of p16/INK4a was mostly observed in PT-LPD lesions known to follow more aggressive courses: monomorphic tumors and EBV-negative PT-neoplasms. Conversely, overexpression of p16/INK4a was associated with EBV-positive PT-LPD. While p16/INK4a might play a role in the proliferative rate of LP-LPD, further investigations are needed to assess the clinical relevance of p16/INK4a expression in predicting the evolution of tumors and to explain how EBV could favor p16/INK4a protein accumulation in lesions.