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Biomedical subjects

D Wallach

Publications and source records attributed to D Wallach.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Generalized atrophic benign form of junctional epidermolysis bullosa.

There are at least six variants of junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB). About 20 cases of the generalized atrophic benign variant of JEB (GABEB) have been previously reported. We present an additional case of GABEB, occurring in a 14-year-old girl. Generalized cutaneous blisters occurred since birth and healed without severe scarring or milia, but with slight atrophy. In addition, mucous membrane involvement and hair, nail and tooth abnormalities were found. Electron microscopic examination showed a cleavage within the lamina lucida and the presence of numerically and structurally abnormal hemidesmosomes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Cloning of genomic DNA for tumor necrosis factor and efficient expression in CHO cells.

A genomic clone for human tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) was isolated using synthetic oligonucleotide probes. The genomic DNA was cleaved to remove 5' regulatory sequences and cloned in a PSVE3 expression vector containing the SV40 early promoter. The plasmid was co-transfected with a selectable dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene into DHFR-deficient Chinese hamster ovary cells. Efficient expression of TNF mRNA was established by Northern analysis. Expression of TNF protein was assayed for by cytotoxic activity for cycloheximide-treated SV80 fibroblasts. Selected transfected cultures secreted as much as 50,000 units of TNF activity/ml of culture medium. Synthesis of TNF protein was confirmed by immunofluorescence of transfected cells with a monoclonal antibody to TNF and immunoprecipitation of 17 kD protein from transfected CHO culture supernates. The efficient expression of TNF from genomic DNA in transfected mammalian cells may be advantageous for biologic uses.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Reduced production of tumor necrosis factor by mononuclear cells in hairy cell leukemia patients and improvement following interferon therapy.

In 16 patients with hairy cell leukemia (HCL) there was a marked reduction in the production of cytotoxins (CTXs) by peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes in response to stimulation in vitro by phytohemagglutinin (PHA), 4 beta-phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA), or Sendai virus. CTX yields of 23.5 +/- 21.5 U/ml, 15 +/- 18 U/ml, and 12.1 +/- 12.1 U/ml were obtained in response to PHA, PMA, and Sendai virus, respectively, as compared with corresponding yields of 207.3 +/- 93.1, 154 +/- 37.4, and 205.2 +/- 62.4 in healthy controls. The extent of reduced production of CTXs appeared to be correlated with the severity of the disease. Systemic interferon (IFN) administered to four patients caused CTX production to improve in response to PHA (147.5 +/- 55.1 U/ml compared with pretreatment values of 14.1 +/- 6 U/ml, P less than 0.05). However, CTX production in response to Sendai virus remained low. The extent to which CTX production by hairy cell leukemia mononuclear cells was reduced was proportionate to the observed decrease in monocyte counts. However, the degree to which CTX production improved after IFN treatment was significantly greater than the observed increase in monocyte counts. The major CTX induced by PHA in mononuclear cells of healthy donors and of IFN-treated HCL patients was identified as tumor necrosis factor-alpha.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Down regulation of the receptors for tumor necrosis factor by interleukin 1 and 4 beta-phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate.

Binding of radiolabeled tumor necrosis factor (TNF) to cell surface receptors was markedly reduced in human foreskin fibroblasts and cells from SV-80 and HeLa cell lines subsequent to treatment with interleukin 1 (IL-1) or 4 beta-phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA). The decrease in TNF binding was initiated within minutes of application of IL-1 or PMA and could not be blocked by cycloheximide, suggesting that it is independent of protein synthesis. Scatchard plot analysis of TNF binding to the SV-80 cells indicated that its decrease in response to IL-1 and PMA reflects a reduced amount of TNF receptors, with no change in their affinity. IL-1 and PMA together had an additive effect on TNF binding. Treatment with TNF did not result in decreased binding of IL-1 to its receptors nor did TNF and IL-1 compete directly for their respective receptors. Human U937 cells on which receptors for IL-1 were below detectable levels exhibited no decrease in TNF binding when treated with IL-1, but did so in response to PMA. In addition to a decrease in TNF receptors, cells treated with IL-1 or PMA exhibited a lesser vulnerability to the cytolytic effect of TNF. The two kinds of changes were not completely correlated. A particularly notable dissimilarity was evident when comparing the rate of their reversal: the TNF receptor level was fully recovered within a few hours of removal of IL-1 or of the water-soluble analogue of PMA, 4 beta-phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate, from pretreated SV-80 cells; yet at that time resistance to the cytotoxicity of TNF was still prominent. These findings indicate that IL-1 as well as tumor-promoting phorbol diesters can down regulate cellular response to TNF by inducing a decrease in the number of receptors for TNF, and apparently through some other effect(s) as well.

Cell Survival↗
PubMed1987

Cloning and characterization of an abundant Plasmodium knowlesi antigen which cross reacts with Gambian sera.

A 110 kDa Plasmodium knowlesi antigen, termed PK110, has been identified on the basis of messenger RNA abundance in late schizonts. Most Plasmodium genes previously cloned have been identified by immune sera, which have selected immunodominant antigens composed of repeating epitopes. Although PK110 was not selected by immune sera, it also contains amino acid repeats, indicating that this structure may be a common feature of malarial proteins. Determination of 296 codons in the PK110 gene revealed the presence of thirteen tandem repeats of twelve amino acids whose consensus sequence is E E T Q K T V E P E Q T. A termination codon interrupts the fourteenth repeat, indicating that these repeats are at the C-terminus of the protein. Indirect immunofluorescence experiments with sera raised against the lambda gt11 fusion protein indicate that PK110 is present in intra-erythrocytic late schizonts. Cloned PK110 is recognized by Gambian sera, and shares epitopes with Plasmodium ovale. PK110 does not cross react immunologically or by DNA hybridization with Plasmodium falciparum.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

Atypical neutrophilic dermatosis with subcorneal IgA deposits.

A 26-year-old woman had a chronic vesiculopustular and ulcerating skin disease associated with fever and arthritis. Cutaneous biopsy specimens showed an extensive infiltration of the dermis and epidermis by neutrophils. Direct immunofluorescence (IF) revealed linear subcorneal IgA deposits. Indirect IF showed IgA antibodies reactive with the subcorneal zone of normal epidermis. The disease responded to dapsone therapy. The association between neutrophilic dermatoses, including pyoderma gangrenosum, subcorneal pustular dermatosis, and related entities, and IgA involvement, either IgA gammopathies and/or intraepidermal IgA deposits, is emphasized. Intraepidermal IgA deposits are possibly involved in the pathogenesis of our patient's condition and of other cases of unusual neutrophilic dermatoses.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

M. leprae and PPD-triggered T cell lines in tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy.

Proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to Mycobacterium leprae and bacillus Calmette Guerin-derived purified protein derivative (PPD) were studied in the presence or absence of interleukin 2 (IL 2) in high M. leprae responders (tuberculoid leprosy patients and healthy subjects) and low M. leprae responders (lepromatous leprosy patients). High responders in most cases developed a strong proliferative response to both antigens in the absence of IL 2. Additional IL 2 and restimulation with antigen plus autologous antigen-presenting cells (APC) allowed the derivation of antigen-specific T cell lines. The lines were assayed for proliferative responses to several mycobacterial antigens. Both PPD and M. leprae-triggered T cell lines exhibited a good proliferative response to either antigen and showed in addition a broad cross-reactivity with other mycobacteria, suggesting a preferential T cell response to epitopes shared by several mycobacterial species. Within the lepromatous group, 50% of the patients studied could mount a proliferative response to PPD antigen in the absence of IL 2, but none of them was able to do so with M. leprae antigen. The addition of IL 2 increased the number of positive responders to PPD in this group, and in some patients IL 2 was able to restore M. leprae reactivity as well, suggesting that IL 2 had overcome a suppressor mechanism. PPD and M. leprae-triggered T cell lines were obtained from these subjects (with IL 2 added from the beginning of the culture when required). M. leprae lines exhibited variable and unstable pattern of specificity, most lines exhibiting, at least transiently, a cross-reactive response to other mycobacteria, but some displaying only M. leprae-specific response. In contrast, PPD lines from these subjects consistently exhibited a good response to PPD, a lesser response to various other mycobacteria and no response to M. leprae, a pattern differing from that obtained with PPD lines of high M. leprae responders. Co-cultures of irradiated lepromatous PPD triggered T cell lines with fresh autologous PBMC non-specifically reduced the proliferative response of the latter to PPD, as well as to unrelated antigens. A similar suppression was also observed when PPD lines from one of the tuberculoid patients were assayed. PPD and M. leprae T cell lines from both high and low responders initially exhibited the same CD4+ CD8- phenotype. In all cases, antigenic specificity declined and could not be maintained after 5 to 8 wk of continuous culture, a change associated with the progressive appearance of CD8+ and Leu8+ cells.

Antigens, Surface↗
PubMed1986

Tumor necrosis factor induction by Sendai virus.

Supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes (PBMC) treated with Sendai virus were found to exert significant cytotoxic effects mediated by leukocyte-produced proteins distinct from interferon. Fractionation of the PBMC into adherent and nonadherent cells indicated that these virus-induced cytotoxins (CTX) were produced primarily in the mononuclear phagocytes. Cells of the monocyte-like U937 line pretreated with 4 beta-phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate could also be induced with Sendai virus to produce CTX. The nonadherent mononuclear cells of the peripheral blood responded poorly to the virus with regard to CTX production, even though they could be induced to produce CTX with phytohemagglutinin (PHA). With the use of monospecific antibodies to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and to lymphotoxin (LT), it was found that TNF is the major CTX produced by PBMC and by the U937 cells after 24 hr stimulation by the virus, whereas LT is not induced under these conditions to any measurable extent. TNF was also found to be produced in significant amounts together with LT upon stimulation of the nonadherent fraction of the PBMC by PHA. These findings indicate that besides bacterial lipopolysaccharides, other biological agents including viruses can be effective inducers of tumor necrosis factor, suggesting implications regarding the physiologic role of this protein.

Cell Adhesion↗
PubMed1986

Infantile acropustulosis. A clinicopathologic study of six cases.

Infantile acropustulosis is a syndrome characterized by recurrent crops of 1- to 2-mm pruritic vesiculopustules, which appear predominantly on distal extremities of infants. Nine biopsy specimens from six cases of infantile acropustulosis have been studied. We found that necrolysis of keratinocytes is the initial event leading to an inflammatory reaction and to an intraepidermal pustule, which progresses to a subcorneal pustule. These different histologic stages are correlated with clinical features. We found that the pustules may be filled with neutrophils or eosinophils, without particular significance. We have not found a correlation among blood eosinophilia, composition of cutaneous infiltrate, age of infant, and course of eruption.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1986

Binding of human TNF-alpha to high-affinity cell surface receptors: effect of IFN.

Human tumor-necrosis factor (INF-alpha), induced by Sendai virus in peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes (PBMC), was isolated using a monoclonal antibody to the protein and radioiodinated by the chloramine-T method. Effective labelling of the protein with little loss of bioactivity was obtained. The labelled protein was found to bind specifically to high affinity receptors present on cells of various cultured lines. The molecular nature of these receptors was examined using the bifunctional cross-linking reagents disuccinimidyl suberate (DSS) and dithiobis succinimidyl propionate (DSP). In SDS-PAGE, conjugates between TNF receptors and the labelled TNF of two sizes (about 75 and 92 kDa) were detected. 125I-labelled TNF was also used to examine variations in TNF receptor concentration, upon treatment of cells by interferon (IFN) or TNF, and any correlation of observed variations with the effect of IFN and TNF on responsiveness of cells to the cytotoxicity of TNF. The decreased vulnerability of cells to the cytotoxic effect of TNF, following treatment of cells by TNF itself, was not correlated with decreased availability of free receptors for the protein. However, an increase in responsiveness of cells to TNF following treatment by IFN was accompanied by some increase in binding of TNF to the receptors.

Cell Line↗