[A MULTICENTER CLINICAL SURVEY ABOUT THE PREVALENCE OF JAPANESE CYPRESS POLLINOSIS AND THE EFFICACY OF SUBLINGUAL IMMUNOTHERAPY WITH JAPANESE CEDAR POLLEN EXTRACT DURING JAPANESE CYPRESS POLLEN DISPERSAL PERIOD].

BACKGROUND: Little is known whether sublingual immunotherapy using Japanese cedar pollen extract (cedar SLIT) is effective for not only Japanese cedar pollinosis but also Japanese cypress pollinosis. We investigated the prevalence rate of Japanese cypress pollinosis, efficacy of cedar SLIT on cypress pollinosis and patients' wish to receive cypress SLIT. METHODS: We investigated a multi-center (31 institutions), cross-sectional survey using a self-administrated questionnaire with four questions for patients received cedar SLIT aged from 5 to 69 years old. RESULTS: 2523 subjects were enrolled for analysis. 83.4% of them had pollinosis symptoms during cypress season before cedar SLIT. In such patients, 37.4% experienced lessened efficacy of cedar SLIT during cypress season. Both the prevalence of cypress pollinosis and the lessened efficacy of cedar SLIT on cypress pollinosis were significantly seen in western Japan as compared to eastern Japan. 76.1% of the subject having cypress pollinosis before SLIT wished to receive cypress SLIT if it is available. CONCLUSION: A lessened efficacy of cedar SLIT during cypress season was broadly seen in Japan, and further showed a regional difference. Together with the finding of high wish by patients, these results suggest a development of cypress SLIT is desirable.

Influence of visual information and test paradigm on clinical olfactory test results.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to determine if visual information and test paradigms affect clinical olfactory test results. METHODS: Three hundred and ninety-seven Japanese patients with complaints of olfactory dysfunction were administered both a new clinical olfactory test, the Odor Stick Identification Test for Japanese (OSIT-J), and the Japanese benchmark olfactory test, T&T olfactometry. Four different methods were used to administer the OSIT-J combining paradigms using word or picture-word alternatives with the four-plus alternative method based on a top-down strategy or the two-step identification method based on a bottom-up strategy. OSIT-J scores were compared for the different methods, referring to benchmark scores obtained with T&T olfactometry. RESULTS: OSIT-J scores using picture-word alternatives and the four-plus alternative method showed a stronger correlation with T&T olfactometry test scores than those using word alternatives and the two-step identification method, respectively. The average OSIT-J scores of the four-plus alternative method using picture-word alternatives were significantly higher than those using word alternatives in anosmic and severely hyposmic patients. The time required to administer the OSIT-J using both picture-word alternatives and the four-plus alternative method was the shortest of the four OSIT-J methods. CONCLUSIONS: Visual information and test paradigms may affect clinical olfactory test results. The OSIT-J method using picture-word alternatives and the four-plus alternative method may be the most suitable for clinical practice.

Effect of thrombin on permeability of human epithelial cell monolayers.

Epithelial cells play an important role in maintaining the airway barrier, which is impaired in inflammatory conditions. Recently, thrombin was reported to be increased in the airway of patients with asthma, and thrombin has been shown to increase the permeability of endothelial cell monolayers. Therefore, we suspected that thrombin affects airway permeability. Calu-3 cell monolayers were established on microporous membranes of tissue culture cell inserts. We examined the effects of topically applied thrombin or thrombin receptor-activating peptide (TRAP) on: (1) transepithelial permeability (luminal to serosal transfer) of radiolabeled mannitol and albumin, (2) changes in electrical resistance, and (3) actin fiber content as assessed by fluorescence microscopy. Compared with untreated control cultures, treatment of the monolayers for 24 h with thrombin or TRAP significantly decreased the electrical resistance and increased the permeability to mannitol and albumin. In addition, these treatments enhanced the appearance of actin stress fibers, and small gaps became visible at areas of cell-cell contact. Thrombin appears to increase epithelial permeability by receptor-mediated reorganization of the actin network in airway epithelial cells. This is likely to contribute to the impairment of the airway barrier function.

Involvement of large tenascin-C splice variants in breast cancer progression.

Alternative splicing of fibronectin-like type III (FNIII) repeats of tenascin-C (Tn-C) generates a number of splice variants. The distribution of large variants, typical components of provisional extracellular matrices that are up-regulated during tumor stroma remodeling, was here studied by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry using a monoclonal antibody against the FNIII B domain (named 4C8MS) in a series of human breast cancers. Large Tn-C variants were found at only low levels in normal breast tissues, but were highly expressed at invading sites of intraductal cancers and in the stroma of invasive ductal cancers, especially at invasion fronts. There was a positive correlation between the expression of large Tn-C variants and the cell proliferation rate determined by immunolabeling of the Ki-67 antigen. Of the Tn-C recombinant fragments (all FNIII repeats or mFNIII FL, the conserved FNIII domain only, the epidermal growth factor-like domain, and the fibrinogen-like domain) which were expressed by CHO-K1 cells transfected with mouse Tn-C cDNAs, only the mFNIII FL enhanced in vitro migration and mitotic activity of mammary cancer cells derived from a Tn-C-null mouse. Addition of 4C8MS blocked the function of mFNIII FL. These findings provide strong evidence that the FNIII alternatively spliced region has important roles in tumor progression of breast cancer.