Citotoxicidad in vitro y potencialidades de los compuestos quinoides como agentes antitumorales / Cytotoxicity in vitro and potential of quinoid compounds as antitumor agents

La búsqueda e identificación de nuevos compuestos activos para la terapéutica del cáncer se ha centrado esencialmente en la investigación de productos naturales y de sus análogos sintéticos. El presente trabajo pretende sistematizar los conocimientos sobre las bases moleculares de la actividad citotóxica de los compuestos quinoides y su uso como agente antitumoral. Se realizó una revisión de artículos originales, de corte experimental, publicados en la década 2004-2014 en algunas bases de datos de la Biblioteca Virtual de Salud (BVS). Se constató que numerosos estudios han avalado la capacidad de los productos quinoides de inhibir el crecimiento celular, sustentado en sus posibilidades de dañar al ADN por estrés oxidativo y de interactuar de modo biorreductivo con otras biomoléculas. Además, que la potencia de la citotoxicidad de los compuestos quinoides se incrementa ante cadenas laterales alquiladas y anillos aromatizados unidos al motivo quinona. Las evidencias experimentales sugieren un promisorio futuro de estas moléculas como agentes antitumorales, en base a su citotoxicidad y elevada selectividad ante líneas celulares neoplásicas(AU)

The search and identification of new active compounds for cancer therapy has focused mainly on research of natural products and their synthetic analogs. This paper aims to systematize the knowledge of the molecular basis of the cytotoxic activity of the quinoid compounds and their use as an antitumor agent. A review was performed on original articles, experimental section, published in the 2004-2014 decade in some databases of the Virtual Health Library (VHL). Numerous studies have supported the ability of quinoid products inhibiting cell growth, based on their ability to damage DNA by oxidative stress and thus have a biorreductive interaction with other biomolecules. Furthermore, the power of cytotoxicity increases quinoid compounds alkylated with side chains attached to rings and quinone flavored motif. Experimental evidence suggests a promising future of these molecules as antitumor agents, based on their high selectivity and cytotoxicity against neoplastic cell lines(AU)

Cytotoxicity of silver nanoparticles in mice liver cells: an ultrastructure study

Nanoparticles of silver have many important applications and are among the most commonly used nanomaterials. They are increasingly used in a variety of both medical and consumer products which includes: spectrally selective coating for solar energy absorption and intercalation material for electrical batteries, as optical receptors, polarizing filters, catalysts in chemical reaction and bio-labeling. Nanosilver [Ag-NP] has both antibacterial and antiviral activity. Yet, the knowledge about the systemic toxicity of nanosilver is relatively limited. The aim of work: To evaluate the potential toxicity of small size 10nm silver nanoparticles using two different doses [0.1 ml and 0.4 ml] focusing on the ultrastructural changes occurring in mice hepatocytes. This study was performed using three groups of mice. The animals of the first group were given a daily intravenous injection of 0.1 ml of silver nanoparticles for 28 consecutive days. The second group was treated with 0.4 ml of silver nanoparticles for 28 consecutive days. The third group served as a control group in which the animals did not receive any vehicle. The study was focused on the ultrastructure of the liver. Ultrastructure observations of liver cells of mice Treated with any of the two doses [0.1 and 0.4 ml] of 10 nm Ag-NP indicated severe accumulation of dark deposits of Ag-NP in the cytoplasm and the cell organelles. Our study revealed that nanosilver used in doses of 0.1 and 0.4 ml led to deposits in the cells and induced damage of cell components especially the nucleus, mitochondria and chromatin

Anti-proliferative effect of leaf extracts of Eucalyptus citriodora against human cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Six different extracts from Eucalyptus citriodora leaves were investigated for their anticancer effect. Extracts were prepared using a range of polar and non-polar solvents to leach out maximum active components. Phytochemical analysis of the extracts revealed the presence of anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, saponins and tannins. Cytotoxic activity of different extracts was tested in vitro against seven human cancer cell lines from seven different tissues, such as SW-620 (colon), HOP-62 (lung), PC-3 (prostate), OVCAR-5 (ovary), HeLa (cervix), IMR-32 (neuroblastoma) and HEP-2 (liver). The ethyl acetate, chloroform and 50% methanolic extract displayed highest anti-proliferative effect in a dose-dependent manner. In vivo anti-tumor activity was evaluated against murine tumor (solid) model of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma and Sarcoma 180. The results showed that ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts suppressed the growth of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (29.79% and 18.48%, respectively), but showed little growth inhibition in case of Sarcoma 180 (13. 86% and 8.57%, respectively). The activity might be due to the flavonoids, tannins and saponins that are present in all the extracts of the plant. Further investigation is required for the isolation of active principle(s) from the ethyl acetate extract, which has shown significant in vitro and in vivo anticancer potential.

Complement-dependent lymphocytotoxicity crossmatch in deceased donor renal transplant: A single institutional experience.

Complement-dependent lymphocytotoxicity crossmatches (n=217) between 47 deceased donors and 150 potential renal recipients were retrospectively studied. A negative cross match was reported in 48 (22.1%), doubtful positive in 126 (58.1%), weakly positive in 32 (14.7%) and positive in 11 (5.1%). No autoantibodies were detected. Renal transplantation was performed in 35.5% of the potential recipients. There was no incidence of hyperacute rejection. The graft survival rate was 88% at 15 months of follow up. The study concludes that a negative pretransplant lympocytotoxicity crossmatch using the basic National Institute of Health technique eliminates hyperacute rejection, but carries drawbacks, which require modification and supplementation with more sensitive and specific assays.

Valoración de dos métodos de tinción en ensayos de citotoxicidad sobre líneas celulares tumorales / Assessing two staining methods for cytotoxicity tests on tumor cell lines

En la estimación de la posible citotoxicidad de extractos o compuestos en proceso de prospección se emplean métodos de tinción celular como aproximación indirecta para la medición masa celular viable. En ensayos de citotoxicidad sobre las líneas celulares SiHa, MCF-7 y MKN-45 se comparan el método de tinción sulforodamina B (SRB), que es un ensayo de tipo terminal, con el uso de resazurina propuesta como poco tóxica para las células. La comparación de los métodos se hizo en términos de porcentaje de supervivencia donde se evaluó la sensibilidad de las líneas a tres compuestos sintéticos durante un periodo de tratamiento de 48 horas usando como referencia de actividad doxorrubicina HCl, un medicamento empleando en cáncer. Los datos obtenidos en los dos tipos de ensayos sometidos a una prueba de correlación mostraron que no hay diferencias significativas en ambos métodos permitiendo la comparación entre estos bajo las condiciones usadas.

Cell staining methods are commonly used for estimating extracts or compounds’ potential cytotoxic activity when prospecting for indirect quantitative measurement of cell growth and viability. This work compared the sulphorhodamine B (SRB) staining method, which is a terminal cell density measuring assay, and the resazurin method, a cell proliferation assay which is supposed to be less toxic for the cell. The methods were compared in terms of percentage survival by evaluating MCF-7, MKN-45 and SiHa cell line sensitivity to three synthetic compounds using a 48-hour treatment period and doxorubicin HCl (a drug used in cancer treatment) as reference activity. A correlation test using the data obtained from the assays showed that there was no significant difference between the methods in the conditions used here.

Study of the association between the human leukocyte antigen class I molecules and remitting relapsing multiple sclerosis MS

The aim of this work is to study the frequencies of different HL4 class I subtypes in Egyptian patients with remitting relapsing MS in order to find out genetic determinants to disease susceptibility among this genetic group. The study was carried out on twenty patients having Ms according to McDonald's criteria, excluding those with clinical courses other than the remitting-relapsing one. All patients subjected to complete history taking, full physical and neurological examination, routine lab investigations, MRI of the brain and/or spinal cord, also HLA class I typing using the complement dependent microlymphocytotoxicity test. The result of HLA typing were compared to twenty healthy controls matched for age. The study revealed the following results. o The most frequent HLA class I subtypes in our study group were: HLA-A1 [40%], A2 [30%], B7 [25%], A28 [15%], and Cw6 [15%]. o Among those subtypes only HLA-B7 showed a statistically significant association with the MS patients suggesting a role of this HLA class I subtype in modulating susceptibility to the disease. o The HIA-Cw4 subtype showed a tendency toward an association with the control group approaching but not reaching a statistical significance suggesting a role of this subtype as a protective factor against MS. However further confirmation is required to support this finding. o The HLA-B7 subtype was significantly associated with the presence of emotional disturbance in the MS patients suggesting a role of this subtype in modulating the clinical picture of the disease. o The HLA-A2 subtype was significantly associated with the absence of sphincteric disturbance in the MS patients suggesting a protective role of this subtype against this particular clinical defect. This subtype may also have a similar protective role against developing emotional disturbance although this finding was only near significant. The above mentioned results agreed with a few reports from some parts of the world and disagreed with many others suggesting a considerable difference in genetic determinants of MS between different populations

Dynamics and kinetics of natural killer cell cytotoxicity in human malaria as evaluated by a novel stepwise cytotoxicity assay

Malaria causes important functional alterations of the immune system, but several of them are poorly defined. To evaluate thoroughly the natural killer cell cytotoxicity in patients with malaria, we developed a technique capable to assess both the dynamics and the kinetics of the process. For the kinetics assay, human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were previously incubated with K562 cells and kept in agarose medium, while for the dynamics assay both cells were maintained in suspension. NK activity from patients with vivax malaria presented a kinetics profile faster than those with falciparum malaria. NK cytotoxicity positively correlated with parasitemia in falciparum malaria. The dynamics of NK cytotoxicity of healthy individuals was elevated at the beginning of the process and then significantly decreased. In contrast, malaria patients presented successive peaks of NK activity. Our results confirmed the occurrence of alteration in NK cell function during malaria, and added new data about the NK cytotoxicity process.

A malária causa importantes alterações do sistema imunitário, muitas ainda mal definidas. Para permitir uma avaliação abrangente da atividade citotóxica das células natural killer em pacientes com malária, desenvolvemos um teste capaz de avaliar concomitantemente a dinâmica e a cinética do processo. Para a avaliação da cinética, células mononucleares do sangue periférico interagiram com células K562 e foram mantidas em agarose, enquanto para avaliar a dinâmica as células eram mantidas em suspensão. A cinética da atividade citotóxica das células NK foi mais rápida em pacientes com Plasmodium vivax, do que naqueles infectados com P. falciparum. Nestes, houve correlação positiva entre a atividade citotóxica das células NK e a parasitemia. O padrão da dinâmica da atividade citotóxica nos pacientes com malária foi bem diferente daquele apresentado pelos indivíduos sadios. Enquanto nestes, a atividade estava muito aumentada no início da incubação das células, sofrendo posteriormente uma redução, nos indivíduos infectados foram detectados sucessivos picos de atividade citotóxica. Nossos resultados confirmam a ocorrência de alteração funcional das células NK na malária humana e acrescentam novos dados sobre a dinâmica e a cinética da atividade citotóxica.

Veneno de Bothrops jararaca modificado com PEG (monometoxipolietileno glicol) para elaboração de um adjuvante complexado à partícula antigênica / Bothrops jararaca venon modified for elaboration of complexed adjuvant to the antigenic particule with (monomethoxypolyethylene glycol (mPEG)

Enzimas, biofármacos e produtos de origem biológica de modo geral sempre foram obstáculos para o uso terapêutico. Isto em função dos riscos de reação adversa que poderiam ocasionar bem como a indução de uma resposta imunológica desejável ou não. A utilização do monometoxipolietileno glicol (mPEG) conjugado a proteínas e enzimas trouxe novas perspectivas de utilização de substâncias naturais como substâncias farmacológicas ativas, pois o fato de estarem conjugadas a um polímero inerte atribui uma nova estrutura físico-química a essas substâncias, diminuindo consideravelmente os riscos de anafilaxia e a biodegradação por formação de complexos antígeno-anticorpo...

Cytotoxicity and apoptosis of ovarian and breast cancer cell lines induced by OVS1 monoclonal antibody and paclitaxel.

OVS1 monoclonal antibody (MAb) produced against ovarian cancer is currently used to identify mucinous cystadenocarcinoma antigen as a tumor marker secreted in serum. The potential of OVS1 MAb in ovarian cancer treatment was studied by evaluating the induction of cytotoxicity and apoptosis of SKOV3 ovarian cancer and BT549 breast cancer cell lines induced by OVS1. Paclitaxel, an antitumor drug, was used as positive control and applied as a combined drug together with OVS1 MAb. OVS1 MAb and paclitaxel were found by MTT assay to induce cytotoxicity against both cell lines. The ED50 of OVS1 MAb were 26.25 and 25.00 microg/ml and of paclitaxel were 21.88 and 9.20 nM against SKOV3 and BT549 cell lines, respectively. The quantitative amount of cells determined by fluorimetric assay was correlated to the results of the MTT assay. The combined application of OVS1 MAb and paclitaxel on these two cell lines resulted in a greater cytotoxicity than observed by either agent alone. OVS1 MAb and paclitaxel applied against both cell lines induced the morphological changes of apoptotic cell death at 24 hours visualized by two color fluorescence dyes, Ho33342 and propidium iodide. Combination of the two substances enhanced the rate of apoptosis compared to either OVS1 MAb or paclitaxel given alone. DNA fragmentation was detected in an agarose gel electrophoresis after treating cells with OVS1 MAb and paclitaxel at 24 hours. These findings on the induction of cytotoxicity and apoptosis by OVS1 MAb on cancer cell lines have implications on the potential application of OVS1 MAb for clinical therapy.

Ação do soro de cabra anti-soro de coelho imunizado ou não com células linfóides do doador sobre o alotransplante cardíaco em ratos / Action of goat serum antiserum of rabbit immunized or not with donor lymphoid cells about the cardiac allograft in rats

Introdução: A rejeição imunológica é uma das principais causas da perda de órgãos transplantados. A tentativa do controle da reação imunológica é clinicamente feita através da imunossupressão inespecífica e experimentalmente também por bloqueio específico. O alotransplante cardíaco em ratos pela técnica de ONO,K é um bom método para avaliação clínica da rejeição e de estudos voltados para o controle da rejeição. Objetivo estudar o efeito de um anti-antisoro linfocitário, anti-linfócitos do doador sobre a rejeição do alotransplante cardíaco de ratos Wistar para ratos Holtzman. Métodos: O soro anti-linfocitário (SAL) foi obtido através da imunização de coelhos com linfócitos obtidos de gânglios linfáticos da cadeia mesentérica de ratos Wistar, em solução de Tyrode, contendo 3x109 células/ ml. A inoculação de 3 coelhos foi feita com 1 ml da suspensão celular e 1 ml de adjuvante completo de Freund. Duas semanas após a primeira inoculação fez-se 4 doses semanais de reforço. Os coelhos foram sangrados na 5a semana, quando então foram separados os soros. A titulação dos soros foi realizada pelo teste de citotoxicidade, sendo verificado que ambos apresentaram título 1:1024. A dosagem de proteínas mostrou albumina com 3,1 e 2,7g por cento e globulinas com 3,5 e 2,9g por cento, sendo o normal 3,7 e 2,2g por cento respectivamente. Os dois SAL foram misturados. Duas cabras foram inoculados, com 3ml da mistura desses SAL, associados a 2ml de adjuvante de Freund. As doses de reforço com 5 ml do SAL foram iniciadas 2 semanas após. A cabra A recebeu 8 doses (1,4 de globulinas). A cabra B recebeu 4 doses de reforço (0,7g de globulinas). Uma semana após a última inoculação retirou-se 125ml de sangue de cada cabra, fazendo a separação dos anti-soro anti SAL (ASAL). Uma terceira cabra C foi imunizada com soro normal de coelho. A determinação de precipitinas foi feita eplo método de OUCHTERLONY.O ASAL A teve título de 1:64 e B e C título de 1:128. Os ASAL A e B foram capazes de bloquear "in vitro" a atividade citotóxica do SAL até a diluição de 1:2 do SAL. O soro de cabra anti-soro normal de coelho (SCANC) nõ foi capaz de bloquear a toxicidade do SAL. Os animais submetidos a transplante cardíaco foram divididos em 2 grupos controles um normal com 10 ratos (C1) e outro (C2) com 5 ratos que recebeu 1,0ml endovenoso de SCANC. O grupo de ratos testes A foi composto de 19 ratos distribuídos em subgrupos. Subgrupo A1 com 5 ratos recebeu 0,5ml do ASAL A, via endovenosa....

Viabilidad de fibroblastos gingivales humanos expuestos a nuevos sistemas de adhesión / Viability of human gingival fibroblasts exposed to new bonding systems

El fin de esta investigación fue conocer el efecto de 4 sistemas adhesivos: Single Bond (3M), Prime&Bond (Dentsply), Primer Vitremer (3M) y Scothbond Multiporpósito Plus (3M), sobre la viabilidad celular como marcador citotóxico de fibroblastos gingivales humanos in vitro, que permite determinar cuál de ellos puede generar una menor respuesta celular citotóxica y que sugiera un uso más adecuado en la clínica. Se utilizaron fibroblastos gingivales humanos en cuarto pase y, una vez que alcanzaron confluencia celular, se procedió a incubar en la estufa de CO2. Posteriormente, se realizaron los conteos de viabilidad celular cada 3, 6, 9 y 12 horas en el microscopio de luz. Se encontró que Single Bond, Primer Vitremer y Scotchbond Multipropósito Plus presentaron un mejor comportamiento con respecto al Prime&Bond, el cual mostró una mayor citotoxicidad

Anamnesis y prueba cutánea para prevenir reacciones fatales por medios de contraste yodados / Anamnesis and the tests of intradermorreaction for prevention of serious reactions the yodate contrast media

Antecedentes: El fenómeno de reacción alérgica y tóxica a los medios de contraste yodados ocurre con mayor frecuencia de lo que registra la literatura. Por este motivo se efectuó el presente estudio. Material y método: en un lapso de 29 años se estudiaron 178,439 casos de pacientes expuestos a medios de contraste yodado; de éstos 137,147 fueron pacientes a quienes se hizo una urografía excretora y a 41,292 una colangiografía. Se realizó un interrogatorio directo que hizo hincapié en los antecedentes personales de alergia a medios de contraste, uso de productos yodados, enfermedades del sistema nervioso y cardiovascular. Se aplicó la prueba cutánea de medios de contraste yodado. Si el resultado fue positivo no se efectuó estudio alguno con medios de contraste yodado o se hizo con medidas especiales. Resultados: se encontraron 4,302 casos positivos y 1,276 falsos negativos. Se premedicaron 287 casos positivos y se administraron medicamentos preventivos cuando hubo antecedentes de urticaria, asma o angioedema con prueba cutánea negativa. No se registraron casos de muerte. Conclusiones: los medios de contraste yodados son susceptibles de desencadenar reacciones adversas de tipo farmacológico o inmunológico. Por esta razón se destaca la utilidad de la anamnesis y las pruebas de intradermorreacción para detectar casos de reacción grave.

Diarrea asociada a clostridium difficile: evaluación de varios métodos de diagnóstico / Diarrhea associated to clostridium difficile: evaluation of several diagnostic methods

Clostridium difficile es el principal patógeno asociado a diarrea por uso de antibióticos y/o colitis psedomembranosa en pacientes hospitalizados. El diagnóstico se basa en la sospecha clínica y presencia de un test de laboratorio positivo para la detección de toxina de C. difficile, considerándose como confirmatorio el test de citotoxicidad. Recientemente se han introducido varios inmunoensayos que permiten el diagnóstico rápido; sin embargo, presentan sencibilidad y especificidad variables por lo que requiere ser evaluados por el método de referencia. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar la correlación entre cinco inmunoensayos y el test confirmatorio de citotoxicidad. Para esto se estudiaron las muestras de deposiciones de 60 pacientes hospitalizados con sospecha clínica de diarrea por C. difficile mediante 4 inmunoensayos: 3 ELISA (ToxA Meridian©, Tox A Becton Dickinson© y Tox A + B TechLab© y 1 ensayo inmunocromatográfico tipo tarjeta: Inmunocard Tox A Meridian©. Cuarenta y seis muestras de las 60 se evaluaron por un test tipo tarjeta de reciente introducción: C. difficile ToxA Oxoid©. Como test confirmatorio se consideró el test de citotoxicidad. La sencibilidad fueron respectivamente: para ToxA Meridian© 95,7 y 78.8 por ciento, Tox A Becton Dickinson© 100 y 94,4 por ciento, Tox A + B TechLab© 91.3 y 86,5 por ciento. Inmunocard Tox A Meridian© 87 y 94,6 por ciento y C. difficile ToxA Oxoid© 94,7 y 96,3 por ciento. De acuerdo a los resultados, los test más recomendables serían Tox A Becton Dickinson© y C. difficile ToxA Oxoid©. Según el equipamiento y requerimientos de tiempos de respuestas de cada laboratorio, se debe establecer el tipo de inmunoensayo a utilizar

Crossmatching technique facilitating kidney transplantation.

Accelerated acute cellular rejection (AR) continues to be a serious problem in kidney transplantation (KT), suggesting that undetected presensitization may be encountered. The purpose of this study was to determine the most sensitive crossmatching (XM) technique to detect the preformed antibody (Ab) which may cause AR. One hundred and twenty two sera from 98 patients, on the waiting list for KT at Ramathibodi Hospital were XMed with 23 cadaveric splenic lymphocytes including 2 living related KT (LR-KT). The XM was performed by 3 different techniques namely, standard microlymphocytotoxicity test (standard NIH), antihuman globulin microlymphocytotoxicity test (AHG) and flow cytometric XM (FCXM). The XM results revealed that 8 out of 75 (10.7%) tests were negative by standard NIH, i.e., 5 tests were positive by AHG only and 1 test was positive by FCXM only and 2 tests were positive by both AHG and FCXM. In addition, the patients who had the AHG technique were not done, 5 out of 47 (10.7%) tests were also negative by standard NIH but were positive by FCXM. The sensitivity of the techniques was done by titrations of anti HLA-A2. It was found that FCXM was the most sensitive technique, followed by AHG and standard NIH, consecutively. In the retrospective study of LR-KT, case #1, the standard NIH for XM using pre-KT blood sample was negative while AHG and FCXM were strongly positive. The patient had AR at day 2 post-KT which confirmed by needle biopsy. The serum at day 11 and day 116 post-KT were tested again and were positive by the 3 techniques. Case #2, pre-KT blood sample showed negative T-XM by the 3 techniques while auto-B and B-XM were positive by standard NIH and AHG but negative by FCXM. This patient had rejection at day 16 after KT. The post-KT blood sample at day 30 showed positive auto T/B and T/B-XM by standard NIH and AHG whereas it was still negative by FCXM. It was also noted that Ab to donor B cell was better detected by standard NIH and AHG than FCXM. In conclusion, FCXM is more sensitive than standard NIH and AHG, however this technique is limited in detecting IgM T and B cell Ab. AHG technique can detect both IgG and IgM antidonor T and B cell Abs. In addition, AHG technique is more sensitive than standard NIH and does not require sophisticated equipment. AHG technique should be appropriate for routine XM, especially, in LR-KT and sensitized patients.

Metodos de cuantificacion de la actividad citotoxica natural: un estudio comparativo / Quantitation methods of the natural killer cell activity: a comparative study

Las unidades liticas constituyen en la actualidad una de las formas mas usadas de cuantificacion de la actividad citotoxica natural. En el presente trabajo se utilizaron represiones lineales y no lineales propuestas en la literatura para el calculo de estas, con el objetivo de comparar el comportamiento de dichos modelos. Fueron ajustadas ecuaciones de regresion lineal de: a) por ciento de cromo desprendido vs la cantidad de celulas electoras, b) por ciento de cromo desprendido vs el logaritmo de la cantidad de celulas efectoras y c) arcoseno de la raiz cuadrada de la proporcion de cromo desprendido vs la cantidad de celulas efectoras; asi como una ecuacion no lineal de la forma Y = A* [1/exp(/k*x)], donde Y es el por ciento de Cr desprendido. A la lisis maxima experimental, x la proporcion efectoras-diana y K la pendiente de la recta que se obtiene al plotear In(A-Y) vx x. Los modelos fueron comparados desde un punto de vista estadistico, se utilizaron indicadores de bondad de ajuste, prueba de significacion de la regresion para las ecuaciones lineales y porcentajes de variacion explicados por los modelos, asi como desde un punto de vista biologico a partir de su adecuacion al fenomeno en estudio. El modelo de regresion no lineal usuado mostro ventajas apreciables en este sentido

Cytotoxic bianthrone C-glycosides from asphodel's aestivum tubers

Aestivin and 10'-deoxyaestivin are new class of cytotoxic bianthrone C-glycosides that have been isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of tuberous roots A. aestivus Brot. On the basis of spectral and chemical evidences, their structures were established as 10-C-[beta-D- xylopyranosyl]-1, 1, 8, 8', 10, 10'-hexahydroxy-3, 3'-dimethyl-10, 7-bianthracene-9, 9'-dione, and 10', C-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl]-1, 1', 8, 8', 10-pentahydroxy-3, 3'-dimethyl-10, 7'-bianthracene-9, 9'-dione, respectively. In addition, chrysophanol, asphodelin and olamodin were isolated and identified. Biologically, aestivin and 10'-deoxyaestivin proved to possess potent cytotoxic activity against mouse P388 leukemia and V-79 cells

Actividad citolítica NK en cancer renal y prostático / NK cytolitic activity in renal and prostatic cancer

Natural killer cytolitic activity, the basis of cancer immunotherapy that uses cytolytic cells, may be impaired in cancer. The aim of this work was to study in vitro the natural killer cytolitic activity and its response to the immunomodulators interleukin-2 interferon and phytohemagglutinin stimulated lymphocyte proliferation in a group of 9 patients with renal cell cancer and 6 with prostatic cancer. The results were compared with those of 20 normal volunteers. Twelve patients were operated and were studied twice 48 h and 14 days after surgery. Natural killer cytolitic activity was significantly lower in renal cell and prostatic cancer patients than controls (3.3 ñ 1.6, 4.9 ñ 2.2 and 20.6 ñ 3.7 per cent of specific lysis respectively). This activity was not modified in cancer patients by interleukin-2 50 Ul/ml or interferon 3000 Ul/ml and did not differ in the two postoperative pèriods. Phytohemagglutinin stimulated lymphocyte proliferation was also lower in cancer patients, compared to controls (stimulation index of 18 ñ 3 and 26.5 ñ 5 respectively). It is concluded that these patients have a low immunological level and this study is the first step towards an immunological characterization of cancer patients that are candidate to adoptive immunotherapy

Association of HLA-B27 with ankylosing spondylitis in Isfahan, Iran

Using a standard microcytotoxicity [NIH] technique of tissue typing, the HLA-B27 antigen was identified in 30 out of 34 patients [88.2%] with classical ankylosing spondylitis [AS], compared to 6 out of 70 controls [8.6%] [P < 0.005]. We also found this antigen in 8 out of 76 [10.5%] patients with non-AS arthritis