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Biomedical subjects

F Lozano

Publications and source records attributed to F Lozano.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

[Treatment of post-traumatic pancreatic pseudocyst by percutaneous Huisman's drainage].

Pancreatic pseudocysts is a complication of acute posttraumatic pancreatitis. They usually cause recurrent abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and elevation of serum amylase levels. A history of epigastric blunt trauma, the before mentioned clinical signs and echographic or scanning studies may lead to a certain diagnosis. Although most of them resolve spontaneously, some persist and active therapeutic measures are required. Surgical internal drainage has been the operative technique of choice in children. Nevertheless, treatment can be achieved by percutaneous aspiration or drainage of pancreatic recurrent collections. We present our experience in two children with posttraumatic pancreatic pseudocyst, treated successfully by means of a percutaneous transabdominal pig-tail catheter (Huisman catheter). The technique of catheter placement and clinical aspects are discussed.

Age Factors↗

[Reactive arthritis caused by Yersinia enterocolitica and Chlamydia trachomatis].

We studied the clinical course, microbiological investigations and laboratory parameters in 10 patients with reactive arthritis (ReA). The number of patients with arthritis included was 10. Triggering agents were: seven patients had positive agglutinating antibody against Yersinia enterocolitica. Three cases had positive antibody test against Chlamydia trachomatis. In all patients antibody test were recovered. The clinical finding were: 4 patients with polyarthritis, 4 mono-oligoarthritis and two cases sacroileitis. The mean of index active joints were 6 (1-14). More frequent pattern were episodes of arthritis with lower limbs joints involvement. Outcome were of 12.1 (2-24) months. All of culture were negative. The laboratory parameters were unremarkable, except ESR were higher, HLA B-27 were positive in 70% of patients. The radiological signs and synovial biopsy studies were not conclusive. Eight patients were treated with antibiotics, not did antibiotics affect over duration of ReA.

Adult↗

Low cytoplasmic mRNA levels of immunoglobulin kappa light chain genes containing nonsense codons correlate with inefficient splicing.

We have previously reported down-regulation of mRNA expression of some of the kappa light chain transgenes in a hybridoma derived from a secondary immune response. Of the five heavily mutated transgene copies present in that hybridoma, three included premature stop codons and were poorly represented at the mRNA level. Here we show that the nonsense mutations are the cause of the low mRNA levels. While we found no evidence that the reduction in mRNA abundance was attributable to an increased rate of cytoplasmic mRNA decay, the amount of cytoplasmic mRNA correlated with the accumulation of unspliced transcripts in the nucleus. Similar results were obtained with a chimeric immunoglobulin gene containing a premature chain termination codon in the variable gene segment. We suggest that inhibition of splicing induced by in-frame premature stop codons is an important mechanism for down-regulation of undesirable immunoglobulin transcripts.

Animals↗

Outbreak of Brucella melitensis among microbiology laboratory workers.

We report on an outbreak of laboratory-acquired brucellosis involving four technicians working at a microbiology laboratory. All cases occurred in a period of 4 months. Blood cultures and the Rose Bengal test were positive for Brucella spp. in all cases. Microagglutination was positive for Brucella spp. at titers of between 1/40 and 1/160. All patients were cured after treatment.

Adult↗

Association of an activation inducible serine kinase activity with CD5.

We show the association of a protein kinase activity with CD5 immunoprecipitates under different detergent conditions (1% digitonin, 1% Triton X-100). This association can be observed in all CD5+ cell types tested (PBMC, thymocytes, B cells from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and some lymphoblastoid T cell lines as Jurkat, Molt-4, 8402). Phosphoaminoacid analysis of the in vitro phosphorylated proteins and Western blot analysis of the immunoprecipitates with an antiphosphotyrosine mAb show that, in contrast with other lymphocyte receptors (CD3, CD4, IL-2R), CD5 coimmunoprecipitates a serine kinase activity. Our results show also that preactivation of cells through the CD3/TCR complex induces a rapid (detectable in 1-3 min) and transient (returns to basal levels after 10-15 min) increase in the kinase activity associated with CD5 immunoprecipitates. This CD3-induced increase in CD5-associated kinase activity correlates with an increase in CD5 phosphorylation. Furthermore, activation with soluble anti-CD5 mAb induces also an increase in the kinase activity associated with this receptor. In contrast with the increase observed after activation with CD3, after activation with CD5 the increase in the kinase activity peaks after 10 min and is maintained for 1 h. These different kinetics suggest that there may exist different mechanisms that regulate this phenomenon.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Affinity maturation leads to differential expression of multiple copies of a kappa light-chain transgene.

Transgenic animals containing rearranged heavy or light chains are used to study the process of hypermutation, which characterizes the maturation of the antibody response. LK6 mice contain five copies of a transgene coding for a light chain produced in response to the hapten 2-phenyloxazolone. We have selected hybridomas from secondary responses that express the transgene as the only light chain. Some of these hybridomas contain transgene copies carrying mutations known to improve antibody affinity. We have analysed the expression of the five transgene copies in those hybridomas. We report here that the somatic hypermutation process can affect the successful expression of antibody light-chain transgenes. When mutations that improve the antibody affinity appear in one transgene copy, antigenic selection favours cells that downregulate the other copies at multiple levels of gene expression, including examples where nonsense mutations correlate with a drop in messenger RNA level.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Different mechanisms regulate the monoclonal antibody-induced modulation of CD2, CD3, and CD5 in human lymphocytes.

The CD2, CD3, and CD5 antigens are down-modulated from the cell surface of peripheral blood mononuclear cells after a 24-hr incubation with specific monoclonal antibodies (mAb). Here we show that active (phorbol myristate acetate, phorbol dibutyrate acetate, and mezerein) but not inactive (4 beta-phorbol) tumor-promoting agents inhibit the mAb-induced modulation of CD2 and CD5, but not CD3, without concomitant changes in the surface distribution of these antigens (such as capping). This inhibitory effect is not protein synthesis dependent and is reversed by protein kinase C inhibitors (staurosporine and H-7). The use of cytoskeleton-disrupting agents shows the existence of different cytoskeletal interactions driving the mAb-induced modulation of CD2 and CD5 with respect to CD3. Treatment with cytochalasin D (an agent that inhibits microfilament polymerization) but not colchicine (an agent that inhibits microtubule polymerization) reproduced the effect of TPA on the mAb-induced modulation of CD2, CD3, and CD5. Our results indicate that the mAb-induced modulation of CD2 and CD5 is dependent on microfilament (namely actin) polymerization and PKC activation, while the modulation of CD3 is not.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Isolation and characterisation of a CDw50 negative Jurkat T-cell line variant (PPL.1).

PPL.1, a Jurkat cell line variant deficient in CDw50 surface expression, has been selected by fluorescence-activated cell sorting and expanded in cell culture. We have studied the expression of several leukocyte surface markers (CD2, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD7, CD26, CD25, CD14, CD18, kCD20, CD43, CD45, CD45R, CD71 and HLA class I and II) and we find no differences in their expression between PPL.1 and its parental Jurkat cell line. Immunoprecipitation analysis of metabolically labelled PPL.1 cells ([35S]-cysteine plus [35S]-methionine) fails to detect the presence of a preformed cytoplasmic pool of CDw50 molecules. The deficient CDw50 expression on PPL.1 cells is stable after several weeks of continuous culture and even after exposure of cells to several lymphocyte activating agents (PGE2, PHA, Con A, calcium ionophore A23187 and human recombinant IFN-gamma). No karyotype changes responsible for such phenotype deficiency are found. PPL.1 cells are as efficient as wild-type Jurkat or K562 cells, when used as targets in cytotoxicity assays with fresh or PHA-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes. No blocking effects of CDw50-specific mAb are observed in such assay. These results are consistent with the fact that CDw50 is not involved in alloreactive T-cell-specific cytotoxicity. They also suggest that this antigen is implicated only on a very specialized type of cell-cell interactions.

Antigens, CD↗

Intracellular events involved in CD5-induced human T cell activation and proliferation.

In this report we describe a novel pathway of human T cell activation and proliferation involving the CD5 surface Ag. The CD5-specific Cris1 mAb induces by itself monocyte-dependent proliferation of PBMC. Among a panel of CD5-specific mAb (Leu1, OKT1, LO-CD5a, F101-1C5, and F145GF3), only the F145GF3 mAb shared this property with Cris1. The analysis of the biochemical pathway involved in this activation showed the lack of detectable hydrolysis of inositol phosphates or early increments in the intracellular cytosolic calcium concentration, after triggering cells with the mitogenic CD5 mAb. However, stimulation with CD5 induces activation of protein kinase C, as measured by phosphorylation of a specific peptide substrate (peptide GS), which can be inhibited by a pseudosubstrate peptide inhibitor. Stimulation with CD5 mAb induces also tyrosine kinase activity, with a substrate pattern that differs from that induced after triggering lymphocytes through the TCR-CD3 complex. On the other hand the IL-2/IL-2R pathway seems involved in the CD5-mediated proliferation of PBMC because anti-IL-2R-specific mAb inhibits CD5-induced proliferation, and stimulation with mitogenic CD5 mAb induces production of IL-2 and expression of IL-2R alpha and beta chains. Therefore, the triggering of the CD5 Ag can induce IL-2- and monocyte-dependent human T cell proliferation by a biochemical pathway that differs, at least in the first stages, from the one that mediates TCR-CD3 complex-induced T cell activation.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Effect of protein kinase C activators on the phosphorylation and the surface expression of the CDw50 leukocyte antigen.

The CDw50 antigen is a constitutively non-phosphorylated leukocyte surface molecule which becomes highly phosphorylated in all the normal and lymphoblastoid cells analyzed (peripheral blood mononuclear cells, Molt 4, CEM, 8402, Namalwa), after stimulation with tumor promoter agents (phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate, mezerein). This phosphorylation is rapid (within 1-5 min), dose-dependent and results in the incorporation of PO(3-)4 groups on serine residues. Furthermore, the level of CDw50 phosphorylation induced by tumor promoter agents is decreased by the protein kinase C inhibitors staurosporine and 1-(5-isoquinolinylsulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine. Activation of peripheral lymphocytes with concanavalin A, phytohemagglutinin and cross-linking of CD3 molecules also induces CDw50 phosphorylation, but the response is delayed and less intense than when tumor promoting agents are used. Treatment with any of the aforementioned agents is not accompanied by quantitative changes in the CDw50 surface expression. We therefore conclude that protein-kinase-C-mediated mechanisms are involved in phosphorylation, but not in regulation of the surface expression of the CDw50 leukocyte antigen.

1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine↗

Impaired post-transcriptional expression of interleukin-2 receptor in pokeweed mitogen-activated T cells.

The expression and role of interleukin-2/interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2/IL-2R) system in the pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-induced T cell mitogenesis was studied. In the absence of monocytes (Mo), both soluble and Sepharose-bound PWM fail to induce T cell mitogenesis even when exogenous IL-2 or IL-1 or IL-1 + IL-2 or IL-4 are also present. In the presence of Mo, PWM stimulation of T lymphocytes (highly depleted of B lymphocytes) induces as much IL-2 mRNA as phytohemagglutinin (PHA), but results in higher and persistent IL-2 levels in culture supernatants despite the concomitant T cell mitogenesis, suggesting that PWM-activated T cells do not utilize the IL-2 they produce. Confirming this notion, Mo-dependent PWM-preactivated T cells, as compared to PHA-preactivated ones: (a) failed to consume exogenous IL-2 and their mitogenic response did not increase upon exposure to exogenous IL-2; (b) exhibited very low numbers of high-affinity IL-2R; and (c) showed lower expression of IL-2R p55 and undetectable expression of IL-2R p75 on their surface. Moreover, the PWM-induced T cell mitogenesis was not inhibited by anti-IL-2 or CD25 antibodies and only partially (50%-60%) inhibited by cyclosporin A, while these treatments abrogated the PHA-induced one. PWM-activated T cells, as compared to the PHA-activated ones, exhibited as high (p55) or even higher (p75) mRNA expression of both IL-2R p55 and p75 subunits. The possibility that PWM interferes with IL-2R subunits once expressed on the T cell surface was excluded. Thus, intracellular PWM-related events are likely to impair IL-2R expression post-transcriptionally. Possible explanations for this effect and its relation with the capacity of PWM to induce T cell-dependent B cell differentiation are discussed.

Cyclosporine↗