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Biomedical subjects

F Pacini

Publications and source records attributed to F Pacini.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Binding of immunoglobulin-G from patients with thyroid autoimmune disease to normal T lymphocytes.

Sera from patients with Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis were reacted with normal T lymphocyte preparations in an attempt to detect binding of immunoglobulin G (IgG) to T cells. Sera from normal subjects and patients with toxic adenomas served as controls. Each serum was reacted with at least three different preparations of normal T cells. Bound IgG was identified using a fluoresceinated second antibody, antihuman IgG. Positive cells were enumerated by means of epifluorescent microscopy. IgG from 57.8% of toxic Graves' patients, 30.7% of Graves' patients who were euthyroid after treatment, and 41.6% of Hashimoto's patients bound to normal T cells more than did IgG from normal controls. Reactivity of toxic adenoma sera was similar to that of normal sera. When the positive sera were reacted with helper or suppressor/cytotoxic T cell preparations (separated by negative selection technique), the binding was shown to be directed against suppressor/cytotoxic T cells but not against helper cells. These data indicate that a significant proportion of patients with autoimmune thyroid disease have IgG in their serum which react with a subset of normal T suppressor/cytotoxic cells. This phenomenon could be the expression of anti-lymphocyte antibodies, which may relate to previously recognized reductions in number and function of suppressor T cells in autoimmune thyroid disease.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1983

Effect of hypo- and hyperthyroidism on the balance between helper and suppressor T cells in rats.

The proportion of total, helper and suppressor T lymphocytes among mononuclear cell preparations from blood and spleen of rats made hypo- and hyperthyroid was measured using three monoclonal antibodies specifically directed against total, helper and suppressor T cells. Compared to normal rats, hypothyroid (thyroidectomized or treated with 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) rats had a decreased proportion of suppressor T cells in the spleen, which produced an increase in the helper/suppressor T cells ratio. The opposite alterations (increased suppressor T cells and decreased ratio) was found in the blood of the same animals. Triiodothyronine (T3) added to PTU in the drinking water prevented these alterations. Animals treated with high doses of T3 for 17 days did not develop any alteration either in the proportions or in the ratio of helper/suppressor T cells. Our results suggest that hypothyroidism but not hyperthyroidism alters the normal balance between helper and suppressor T cells in rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Effect of indomethacin on phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes in thyroid autoimmune diseases.

Suppressor lymphocyte function was evaluated in control subjects and in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease, utilizing an assay in which indomethacin was added to lymphocyte cultures to inhibit prostaglandin-producing suppressor cells. This assay is based on the observation that the addition of indomethacin, a potent prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor, to phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes should cause an increase in the incorporation of iododeoxyuridine in control subjects and a smaller increase in diseases with reduced prostaglandin-producing suppressor cells. The addition of indomethacin, 1 microgram/ml, stimulated iododeoxyuridine incorporation in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated cultures in control subjects to an index value of 1.43 (i.e., the increment in iododeoxyuridine incorporation with both indomethacin and phytohemagglutinin was 43% greater than the incorporation with phytohemagglutinin alone). The stimulation index was significantly lower in patients with Graves' disease who were toxic and untreated (1.18 +/- 0.25, mean +/- SD; P less than 0.003). Patients who were toxic while receiving antithyroid drugs or after radioiodine therapy or patients euthyroid after treatment had a mean stimulation index in the normal range, although the spread of data was very large in these groups. Responses in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis were also quite variable. The average response was 1.74 +/- 0.72, with 40% of the patients showing a high stimulation index. This study supports our previous investigations in which we used different assay systems for measuring suppressor-cell function in patients with thyroid autoimmune diseases and indicates that a defect in suppressor lymphocyte function is measureable by another technique. The abnormality persists in some cases after metabolic control has been achieved, but usually returns toward normal over months or years.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Decreased suppressor T-lymphocytes in autoimmune thyroid diseases detected by monoclonal antibodies.

Monoclonal antibodies reacting with cell surface antigens of helper (T4), suppressor (T8) T cells and common T-cell antigen (T3) were used by an immunofluorescence technique to enumerate peripheral T-lymphocytes in 42 patients with Graves' disease and 16 patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. The percentages of total T cells (cells which react with anti-T3) and helper/inducer cells (cells which react with anti-T4) among peripheral mononuclear cells in Graves' and Hashimoto's patients were not significantly different from those found in normal controls, except for a decrease in cells which react with anti-T3 in toxic Graves' disease without medication. The most important finding was a decrease in the percentage of cytotoxic/suppressor T cells (cells which react with anti-T8) in toxic Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. In patients with Graves' disease who were hyperthyroid or euthyroid on propylthiouracil treatment and euthyroid after radioactive iodide treatment, the percentage of cells which react with anti-T8 was also decreased, but this did not reach statistical significance. These findings support the hypothesis of defects in suppressor T-lymphocytes in autoimmune thyroid diseases.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Gastric carcinoma: preliminary data of a cooperative program for early diagnosis.

The results of a program of early gastric cancer detection, carried out in the Oncologic Institutes of Genoa, Forlì and Florence, are evaluated. General practitioners screened subjects, according to possible anamnestic and clinical risk indicators (age, family history, previous gastric lesions, digestive complaints, etc.). The diagnostic consisted of medical examinations, endoscopy with cytology and/or directed biopsy, and possibly air contrast barium X-ray. Of 3,180 subjects examined, 224 had gastric cancers (7 %), 29 of which were early cancers, and 688 had high risk lesions; 1,478 cases of other pathology were detected. The authors stress that the proportion of early cancer is clearly higher than that found in routine diagnosis, yet still lower compared to the results of screening programs carried on the general population. Moreover, the high diagnostic sensitivity of each method in early gastric cancer detection and, on the other hand, the difficulties in the detection of high risk lesions, which require systematic multiple biopsies, are emphasized.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Serum thyroglobulin concentrations and 131I whole body scans in the diagnosis of metastases from differentiated thyroid carcinoma (after thyroidectomy).

Measurements of circulating thyroglobulin (hTg) and 131I whole body scan were performed in 101 patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma who had been subjected to surgical thyroidectomy and 131I ablation of remaining thyroid tissue. All 45 patients with positive scans (i.e. functioning metastases) had elevated hTg concentrations. Of fifty-six patients with negative scans forty-two had undetectable or very low hTg levels and were considered to be free of metastatic thyroid tissue, whereas fourteen showed the presence of non-functioning metastases in the clinical and/or radiological examination. In this group of patients, eleven had elevated serum hTg levels while the other three patients had detectable hTg concentrations within the normal range. These results indicate that serum hTg measurements correlate very well with scan findings and have the added advantage of detecting non-functioning metastases which would not be detected by scanning. We concluded that measurement of serum hTg may be used together with scanning, as the first step in the follow-up of thyroidectomized patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1979

[Multi-institution, multidisciplinary radiology and endoscopy trial of the diagnostic accuracy of the double contrast examination of the stomach surface].

In 12 X-ray and gastroenterology departments 1570 patients, clinically suspected to have a gastric pathology, have been examined by double contrast (surface) examination of the stomach followed by gastroscopy. Diagnostic accuracy was 93% in respect of endoscopic data, assumed correct by hypothesis. On the basis of a cost and benefit evaluation, made according to the well known criteria, a wider routine use of the double contrast technique is proposed.

Adolescent↗