[Influenza vaccination of patients with solid tumours during chemotherapy: efficacy and safety]. / Griepvaccinatie tijdens chemotherapie bij patiënten met solide tumoren.

- Adult patients with solid tumours receiving chemotherapy have reduced immunity against infections and are at increased risk of influenza infection and its complications. However, many of said patients are not vaccinated for influenza.- Limited observational research in this patient group has given some indication of the protective effects of the influenza vaccine on clinical outcome measures.- Serological studies have shown that the antibody response following influenza vaccination is often less pronounced in patients with solid tumours compared to healthy individuals. Nonetheless, in most cases a timely protective antibody response can be achieved.- The inactivated influenza vaccine is safe in immunosuppressed patients, irrespective of the moment at which it is administered. Side-effects are similar, both in nature and number, to those seen in healthy individuals.- Influenza vaccination can be offered to all adult patients with solid tumours, preferably before chemotherapy is commenced. Vaccination during chemotherapy, however, usually also generates sufficient vaccination response and can reduce the risk of influenza-related complications. Therefore, chemotherapy should not preclude patients from being administered the influenza vaccine.

Laboratory procedures used to select an unrelated HLA matched bone marrow donor.

Selecting an HLA matched unrelated bone marrow donor is a labour-intensive step-by-step procedure, with highly specialized techniques. To be successful immunohematologists and clinicians have to work closely together. Because so much is still unknown lymphocytes and serum of patient and donor should be stored to enable future analyses.

A mouse monoclonal antibody detecting a DR-related MT2-like specificity: serology and biochemistry.

A mouse monoclonal antibody (7.3.19.1) was produced which reacts with class II molecules on B cells and monocytes of DR3, DR5, and/or DRw6 positive donors only. Using this moab and two others, three different groups of class II molecules could be identified. Furthermore, a differential precipitation pattern was found which correlates with a DR-related variable expression of the MT2-like polymorphic determinants on the cell surface. Addition of 7.3.19.1 to MLCs did not result in significant inhibition in controls to the two other moabs tested. Normal CTL activity was found in such a stimulated responder population.

Familial benign hypercalcaemia (FBH; McK. No. 14598, 1983): linkage studies in a large Dutch family.

By screening 27 hypercalcaemic and 21 normocalcaemic subjects in a large Dutch pedigree with familial benign hypercalcaemia (FBH; McK. No. 14598) (McKusick 1983) for more than 35 genetic markers, it was found that linkage of FBH can be excluded at about 25 centimorgans (cM) from GM, 20 cM from ABO, 15 cM from MNS and HLA, 10 cM from JK and PI, and 5 cM each from ACP1, AK1, ADA, GPT1, and PGP.

Improved detection of HLA-Cw5 and Cw7 by two colour fluorescence technique.

Reactivity of two Cw5 and three Cw7 antisera was compared in the standard NIH and the Two Colour Fluorescence (TCF) techniques. Contrary to the NIH, the TCF method yielded strong positive reactions which enabled clear assignment of the Cw5 and Cw7 specificities. The TCF technique combines three factors that increase the sensitivity of serum reactions: 1. typing on B lymphocytes, 2. prolonged incubation and 3. staining of the lysed cells with ethidium bromide.

Variable MLC stimulatory capacity of neoplastic B and non-B/non-T lymphocytes expressing HLA-DR antigens.

Neoplastic cells from patients with a variety of B- or non-B/non-T-lymphoid malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, various histologic types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and acute lymphocytic leukemia, showed strong variation with respect to stimulatory capacity in mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC). MLC stimulatory capacity was either normal or strongly decreased in comparison with that of normal lymphocytes despite the expression of HLA-DR antigens and p23,30 ("Ia-like") determinants on the tumor cells of all patients. Strongly decreased stimulatory capacity of HLA-DR-positive tumor cells could not be ascribed to suppressive activity of the tumor cells. Tumor cells from three patients with a T-cell malignancy failed to stimulate in MLC and did not react with anti-p23,30 serum. The decreased stimulatory capacity of many DR-positive neoplastic cells is ascribed either to altered membrane presentation of DR antigens or to the absence of MLC stimulatory determinants specified by genes closely linked to, but different from, those coding for DR.

HLA-DR-associated genetic control of the type of leprosy in a population from surinam.

The relationship between HLA phenotype and leprosy classification was studied in 73 unrelated patients and 92 healthy controls from a mixed Negroid-Caucasoid population originating from Surinam, South America. Heterogeneity in the distribution of HLA-DR (but not A, B, and C) was detected between tuberculoid (TT* + BT*) leprosy and lepromatous (BL* + LL*) leprosy patients (p = 0.024). This heterogeneity appeared to be caused almost exclusively by DR3. Most significantly, the frequency of DR3 was increased among polar tuberculoid (TT) leprosy patients as compared to the rest of the patients (p = 0.0003). Compared with healthy controls the frequency of DR3 was increased among TT patients (p = 0.006), unchanged in BT patients, and decreased among lepromatous (BL + LL) patients (p = 0.027). These data indicate that in this population an DR3-associated factor controls the type of the disease that develops after infection with Mycobacterium leprae.

HLA antigens in Behçet's disease: a reappraisal by a comparative study of Turkish and British patients.

We have compared the distribution of histocompatibility antigens of 22 Turkish and 14 British patients with Behçet's disease with those of their respective controls. There was a strong association of B5, specifically its Bw51 split, with the disease. A modest increase in the incidence of HLA B27 was noted in British patients, but numbers were too small for analysis. The incidence of DRw2 and DRw4 antigens among Turkish and British patients did not differ from that of their respective controls.

Bu and SV: two closely related B-locus specificities.

The B15/Bw21/Bw35 related specificities "Bu" and "SV" have been studied in Bristol and in Leiden, both independently and with mutually exchanged sera and cells. Evidence is presented that these specificities are likely to be discrete though very closely related antigens occurring with a combined phenotype frequency of about 1% in Dutch and English Caucasians. SV may be associated with Aw36, while no clear-cut haplotype or phenotypic association has yet emerged for Bu with any HLA--A sor C locus antigen. Bu and SV appear to be related to the variant of B15 reported to be common in Negroid populations.

HLA antigen distribution and HLA haplotype segregation in Crohn's disease.

A study of the HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DR antigens in patients with Crohn's disease and controls did not reveal a significant strong association with a particular HLA antigens. A segregation analysis of parental HLA haplotypes in nine families with at least two children suffering from Crohn's disease did not show a significant deviation from the expected Mendelian segregation.

On the heterogeneity of B40.

Evidence is presented for the heterogeneity of HLA-B40. At least two sub-groups can be recognized: Bw40.1 which is Cw3 associated and Bw40.2 which is Cw2 associated in Caucasians, but not in other populations. The recognition of Bw41 (Sabell), Bw47 (407*), and Bw48 (KSO) with both local Bw40 antisera and sera from the 7th Histocompatibility Workshop is discussed.

The lymphocyte activating influence of the HLA-A region.

Six individuals with an established recombination between the HLA-A and the HLA-B loci of the major histocompatibility complex have been tested in unilateral mixed lymphocyte cultures with other members of their families. A weak, but statistically significant lymphocyte activating influence of the HLA-A chromosomal region has been observed.

Rga (Rodgers) and the HLA region: linkage and associations.

In 19 families with 97 children the segregation of Rga (Rodgers) was found to be compatible with Mendelian inheritance and five backcross and 14 intercross families were found among HLA and Bf typed families. Close linkage (lods + 17.82) without recombination was found between Rg and the HLA region, with a direct count of 96 nonrecombinant meioses for Rg-HLA-B. Rg- was strongly associated with HLA-B8 (29 of 30 haplotypes) and probably associated with Bw40, but did occur on other HLA-B haplotypes. By inference Rg- is negatively associated with Ch- (Chido). The Rg-Ch- haplotype has not been observed. Rga and Cha may or may not be coded for by different sites of the same cistron closely linked to HLA-B:C and cannot as yet be excluded from being parts of B or C.

Linkage relationships of the loci of the major histocompatibility complex in families with a recombination in the HLA region.

A number of families with an established recombination in the major histocompatibility complex has been investigated for markers known to be coded by genes of this linkage group. The results provide further data on the relative position of the loci for HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-D, Bf, Chido, Rodgers and PGM3 on chromosome 6. A positive lodscore for linkage between HLA and blood group P was found; lodscores between HLA and nineteen other markers were negative.