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H Yanagawa

Publications and source records attributed to H Yanagawa.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Long-term follow-up of pulmonary function in bronchial asthma patients treated with pranlukast.

Clinical studies have shown that pranlukast, a selective cysteinyl leukotriene antagonist, is effective for bronchial asthma. In the present paper, we retrospectively analyzed long-term asthma control by pranlukast treatment in patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids. We analyzed medical records and asthma diaries of 21 patients (9 males, 12 females) (52.1 +/- 3.5 years of age) with bronchial asthma who experienced increase of more than 10 L/min in peak expiratory flow in the first 4 weeks of treatment with pranlukast (450 mg/day) and were subsequently treated with pranlukast for more than 1 year. They all received inhaled corticosteroids (400-1600 microg/day of beclomethasone dipropionate or equivalent). We examined clinical control in terms of time course of self-monitored peak expiratory flow. During the analyzed period, the dose of inhaled corticosteroids was tapered in 4 patients, constant in 15 patients and increased in 2 patients. In 19 patients treated with unchanged or tapered dose of inhaled corticosteroids, improvement in the increase of mean PEF at 4-week treatment was maintained for 1 year. No difference in the add-on effect of pranlukast was observed in patients treated with less than 800 microg and more than or equal to 800 microg of inhaled corticosteroids. Four patients underwent reduction of inhaled corticosteroids in the analyzed period and PEF was well-maintained and even increased by pranlukast treatment. In 11 patients in whom data for 3 years were available, the improvement in PEF persisted for 3 years. Although the present investigation is a retrospective analysis, these data may suggest that pranlukast has no tachyphylaxis and its effect continues for more than 1 year.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed2003

[Epidemiologic study of admitted children with Kawasaki disease in Beijing from 1995 to 1999].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the epidemiologic picture of Kawasaki disease (KD) in Beijing and its suburbs. METHODS: A questionnaire form and diagnostic guideline for KD were sent to all hospitals with pediatric inpatient beds throughout Beijing and its suburbs. Pediatricians were asked to review the medical records and report all patients with KD diagnosed during the 5-year period from January, 1995, to December, 1999. RESULTS: A total of 710 patients with KD were reported from 37 (95%) of 39 hospitals with pediatric inpatient beds. The incidence rates of KD were 18.2 (1995), 21.1 (1996), 18.6 (1997), 30.6 (1998) and 27.8 (1999) per 100,000 children < 5 years of age. The male:female ratio was 1.7:1. The age at onset ranged from 1 month to 13.4 years (with median of 2.3 years), with 85.2% < 5 years old. The disease occurred more frequently in spring and summer and less frequently in autumn and early winter. Lymph node enlargement was the least common clinical sign, and its incidence decreased from 1995 to 1999. Cardiac abnormalities were found in 21.5% of patients and were more prevalent in patients diagnosed 10 days or longer after the onset. No patients died in the acute stage. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of KD in Beijing is lower than that reported in Japan, similar to the incidence in the United States and higher than in those other Western countries. The age and gender distribution and increasing trend in incidence are similar to those in previous reports, but seasonal distribution is unique.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Add-on effects of suplatast tosilate in bronchial asthma patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids.

Th2 cytokines play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. In the present study, we investigated the effect of suplatast tosilate, a selective Th2 cytokine inhibitor, on asthma control, in terms of subjective symptoms and pulmonary function in patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids. Thirty-eight patients with bronchial asthma being treated with inhaled corticosteroids were given suplatast tosilate (100 mg three times daily) for 12 weeks, in a multicenter setting. During the study period, other medications were continued. Morning and evening peak expiratory flow, asthma symptoms, blood eosinophil count and serum IgE levels were monitored. Suplatast tosilate treatment was associated with a significant improvement in mean morning peak expiratory flow (from 295 L/min to 348 L/min, P < 0.01) and evening peak expiratory flow (from 313 L/min to 357 L/min, P < 0.01). The mean daily variation in peak expiratory flow was significantly reduced (from 11.6% to 7.3%, P < 0.01) by suplatast tosilate treatment. The greatest improvement in peak expiratory flow was observed in patients whose blood eosinophil counts were decreased by suplatast tosilate treatment. Treatment with suplatast tosilate improved pulmonary function in patients with bronchial asthma. Our results suggest the therapeutic effects observed may occur through suppression of eosinophilic inflammation.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed2003

Adenoviral interleukin-12 gene transduction into human bronchial epithelial cells: up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and its prevention by corticosteroids.

BACKGROUND: One of the potential effects of IL-12 is to restore Th1/Th2 balance. Therefore, we investigated the possibility of developing a system for local delivery of IL-12 into the airways by examining protein expression in a human bronchial epithelial cell line (BEAS-2B) after adenoviral IL-12 gene transduction. The effects of dexamethasone on the gene-modified cells were also examined. METHODS: Adenoviral vectors AxCAegfp and Ax1CIhp40ip35 were used to transduce enhanced green fluorescence protein and IL-12 genes, respectively, into BEAS-2B cells. Wild-type and IL-12 gene-transduced BEAS-2B cells were then incubated with or without dexamethasone, and concentrations of IL-12, IFN-gamma, IL-6, IL-8, granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor and chemokines (TARC and RANTES) in the supernatant were measured by ELISA. IL-12 receptor expression was analysed by flow cytometry and RT-PCR. RESULTS: The efficiency of transgene expression in BEAS-2B cells at a multiplicity of infection of 30 was approximately 80%. Gene-modified BEAS-2B cells produced biologically active IL-12, regardless of dexamethasone treatment. While IL-12 gene transduction led to increased production of IL-6 and IL-8 by BEAS-2B cells, expressions of these proteins were suppressed by dexamethasone. Addition of exogenous IL-12 failed to augment BEAS-2B cell IL-6 and IL-8 production, and IL-12 receptor expression by BEAS-2B cells was not detected. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that adenoviral IL-12 gene transduction may be effective in inducing IL-12 expression in the airways, and could be a potential approach in the management of bronchial asthma.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMed2003

Kawasaki disease in parents and children.

AIM: To estimate the probability that the parents of patients with Kawasaki disease also had a history of the same disease. METHODS: Self-reported parents' histories of Kawasaki disease were collected from data of the 16th nationwide survey of the disease conducted in Japan from January 1999 to December 2000. The incidence of Kawasaki disease was calculated by using data reported in all 16 nationwide surveys and live births in the Japanese vital statistics. The expected number of parents with a history of Kawasaki disease in the general population, which was calculated by using the assumed number of parents in the vital statistics and the incidence of this disease, was compared with the observed number. RESULTS: Among 14,163 parent pairs of patients with Kawasaki disease, 33 parents (25 mothers and 8 fathers) had a history of the disease. The number of parents expected to have a history of Kawasaki disease was 16.1 (8.4 mothers and 7.7 fathers). From a Poisson distribution, the probability of the observed number was less than 0.001 among parents or mothers. The prevalence of a recurrence of Kawasaki disease and incidences involving siblings of patients whose parents had a history of the disease were five or six times higher than those of all patients who were reported in the 16th survey. CONCLUSION: When compared with parents in the general population, the probability of a history of Kawasaki disease was significantly higher in those parents whose children suffered from the same disease. This suggests that, epidemiologically, a genetic predisposition to Kawasaki disease may be implicated in its occurrence.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Factors relating to the cardiac sequelae of Kawasaki disease one month after initial onset.

UNLABELLED: This study aimed to determine the risk factors related to the presence of cardiac sequelae 1 mo after initial onset and to examine the preventive effect of the early administration of high-dose gamma-globulin (GG) on cardiac sequelae in patients with Kawasaki disease. Patients treated with high-dose GG of 2000 +/- 100 mg kg(-1) were selected as subjects from the 15th nation-wide survey in Japan. Univariate and logistic multiple variable analyses were used to test the effects of background variables such as age and gender, variables relating to laboratory findings such as the percentage of neutrophil leucocytes, and variables relating to the GG treatment on the presence of cardiac sequelae. The odds ratios were significantly higher for males (1.48), those younger than 1 y of age (1.71), recurrent cases (2.42), and those with a low haematocrit (<32.5%) (1.45) and high percentage of neutrophil leucocytes (>68%) (1.63). The odds ratio was low for those who started GG administration in less than 6 d from onset between the patients with and without cardiac sequelae. The odds ratio for the duration of GG treatment was not significantly different between those with and without cardiac sequelae. CONCLUSION: Patients who received early administration of GG, less than 6 d from onset of the disease, had a lower risk than those received GG more than 6 d from the onset. The percentage of neutrophil leucocytes and the haematocrit level are useful indicators in predicting the development of cardiac sequelae.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2001

Random multi-recombinant PCR for the construction of combinatorial protein libraries.

Development of a new methodology to create protein libraries, which enable the exploration of global protein space, is an exciting challenge. In this study we have developed random multi-recombinant PCR (RM-PCR), which permits the shuffling of several DNA fragments without homologous sequences. In order to evaluate this methodology, we applied it to create two different combinatorial DNA libraries. For the construction of a 'random shuffling library', RM-PCR was used to shuffle six DNA fragments each encoding 25 amino acids; this affords many different fragment sequences whose every position has an equal probability to encode any of the six blocks. For the construction of the 'alternative splicing library', RM-PCR was used to perform different alternative splicings at the DNA level, which also yields different block sequences. DNA sequencing of the RM-PCR products in both libraries revealed that most of the sequences were quite different, and had a long open reading frame without a frame shift or stop codon. Furthermore, no distinct bias among blocks was observed. Here we describe how to use RM-PCR for the construction of combinatorial DNA libraries, which encode protein libraries that would be suitable for selection experiments in the global protein space.

Alternative Splicing↗
PubMed2001

Humanized anti-ganglioside GM2 antibody is effective to induce antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity in mononuclear cells from lung cancer patients.

Ganglioside GM2 is one of the major gangliosides expressed on the cell surface of human tumors including lung cancer. We have previously reported that a mouse-human chimeric monoclonal antibody (mAb), KM966, against GM2 promotes the lysis of lung cancer cells by human blood mononuclear cells (MNC) of healthy donors. In this study, we examined antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) of MNC, using KM966 mAb and its humanized counterpart, KM8969, in 16 lung cancer patients and 18 control patients. The ADCC activity was assessed by 4-h (51)Cr release from GM2 positive SBC-3 small cell lung cancer cells. MNC from lung cancer patients exhibited similar ADCC activity to those from control patients when KM966 and KM8969 were used as mAb. Moreover, effective ADCC activity was observed even in MNC from advanced lung cancer patients. These observations suggest the potential activity of humanized anti-GM2 mAb (KM8969), as well as chimeric KM966, in biological therapy for lung cancer patients.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Interleukin (IL-)15 has less activity than IL-2 to promote type 2 cytokine predominance in tumour-associated mononuclear cells from lung cancer patients.

Deviation of type 1/type 2 cytokine balance to type 2 predominance may contribute to tumour progression. We investigated effect of interleukin (IL-)15 on modulation of type 1/type 2 balance in addition to non-major histo-compatibility complex (MHC)-restricted killer induction in the tumour-growing site. IL-15 induced significant killer activity in mononuclear cells (MNC) in malignant pleural effusion as well as those in peripheral blood. Pleural MNC produced more IFN-gamma (type 1 cytokine) by incubation with IL-15 or IL-2 than blood MNC. Moreover, IL-4 and IL-5 (type 2 cytokines) production by pleural MNC were observed only by incubation with IL-2, but not with IL-15. These observations suggest that IL-15 has a potent activity to restore type 1/type 2 balance in addition to killer induction in tumour-growing site.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Efficient generation of dendritic cells from alveolar and pleural macrophages as well as blood monocytes in patients with lung cancer.

In this study, we investigated the generation of dendritic cells (DCs) from blood monocytes and mature macrophages from untreated primary lung cancer patients. Blood monocytes were separated by adherence from blood mononuclear cells (MNC) from ten lung cancer patients and ten control subjects, and cultured for 7 days in medium with granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) plus interleukin (IL-) 4. In all cases examined, DCs with typical characteristics were obtained even in lung cancer patients after 7 days culture with these cytokines, and there was no significant difference in phenotype and stimulatory activity in allogeneic lymphocyte proliferation between DCs derived from monocytes from lung cancer patients and those from control subjects. Next, we examined whether alveolar and pleural macrophages in malignant pleural effusion separated by magnetic beads could differentiate to immunostimulatory DCs. Conventional culture conditions with GM-CSF and IL-4 did not induce efficient numbers of DCs from mature macrophages, whereas the addition of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) to GM-CSF and IL-4 effectively contributed to generate DCs. These findings suggest that both mature macrophages and blood monocytes from lung cancer patients could differentiate to DCs, and might be a useful source of DCs for immunotherapy.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Incidence rate of recurrent Kawasaki disease and related risk factors: from the results of nationwide surveys of Kawasaki disease in Japan.

UNLABELLED: To investigate the incidence of recurrent Kawasaki disease, and to discuss some of the potential risk factors, data of the 13th and 14th nationwide surveys of Kawasaki disease in Japan were analyzed. To calculate the rate of recurrence, 10679 patients with 31501.9 person-years were observed. The mean observation period was 2.95 y. The rate of recurrence was 6.89 per 1000 person-years, with a high incidence within the 12 mo following the first episode. CONCLUSION: The incidence was high among those under 3 y of age and those with cardiac sequelae during the first episode. None of the other factors affected the incidence.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed2001

Protein anatomy: structure and function of peptide fragments corresponding to the secondary structure units of barnase.

Globular proteins can be decomposed into several modules or secondary structure units. It is useful to investigate the functions of such structural units in order to understand the folding units of proteins. In our previous work, barnase was divided into six peptide fragments corresponding to modules, and some of them were shown to have RNA-binding and RNase activity [Yanagawa, et al. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 5861-5865]. Barnase mutant proteins obtained by permutation of the structural units also had RNase activity [Tsuji, T. et al. (1999) J. Mol. Biol. 286, 1581-1596]. Here we investigated the structure and function of peptide fragments corresponding to secondary structure units of barnase. The results of circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated that some of the peptide fragments form helical structures in aqueous solutions containing over 30% 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, and the S6 (94-110) peptide fragment is induced to form a beta-sheet structure in the presence of RNA. The S6 peptide fragment forms aggregate complexes with RNA. Electron microscopic analysis showed that the aggregate complexes were comprised of filaments. These results indicate that not only modules but also secondary structure units dissected from a globular protein have functional and structure-forming capabilities.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2001

Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of Kawasaki disease in Shaanxi Province, China, 1993-1997.

The objective of this paper is to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Kawasaki disease (KD) in Shaanxi Province, China during the 5-year period from January 1993 to December 1997. A province-wide epidemiological survey on KD was made by the China-Japan Kawasaki Disease Study Group. The questionnaire form and the diagnostic criteria of KD, which were prepared by the Japan Kawasaki Disease Research Committee and translated into Chinese, were sent to the departments of pediatrics of all the hospitals with 100 beds or more in Shaanxi province. All the KD patients who were diagnosed during the observation period from 1993 to 1997 were asked to take part in this survey. The databases of reported KD in this survey were analysed at the Department of Pediatrics of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, China. All the patients that satisfied the diagnostic criteria were included in the report. A total of 105 (70 per cent) hospitals responded and 376 cases of KD were confirmed. More cases were reported in 1993 and 1994. Of the total patients reported, 69 per cent were children under 3 years old with a male to female ratio of 1.6:1. The proportion of patients with cardiac sequelae was 19 per cent with a male to female ratio of 3:1. There were four fatal cases with a fatality rate of 1 per cent. It is concluded that KD is common in China. Continuous surveillance is necessary to maintain high awareness of KD so as to find possible risk factors and their association with the disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Incidence survey of Kawasaki disease in 1997 and 1998 in Japan.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the results of a nationwide epidemiologic survey of Kawasaki disease for the 2-year period 1997 and 1998. DESIGN: We sent a questionnaire to all hospitals with 100 beds or more throughout Japan (2663 hospitals) requesting data on patients with Kawasaki disease. Study items included name, sex, date of birth, date of initial hospital visit, diagnosis, address, recurrence, sibling cases, gammaglobulin treatment, and cardiac lesion in the acute stage or 1 month after onset. RESULTS: Of the 2663 hospitals, 68.5% responded, reporting 12 966 patients-7489 males and 5477 females. Of the total patients reported, 6373 (incidence rate of 108.0 per 100 000 children <5 years old) occurred in 1997, and 6593 (111.7) in 1998. More than one half of the patients (54.9%) were <2 years old and 81.6% were <4 years old. In males, the incidence rates of cardiac lesions were 27.2 in the acute stage and 10.1 a month after onset. In females, the rates were 16.7 and 5.2, respectively. The incidence rates of cardiac lesions were highest in the youngest age group (<6 months old) both in the acute stage and 1 month after onset. The rates decreased with increasing ages. Although frequency of giant aneurysms was not high at the acute stage, it did not decrease 1 month after onset. CONCLUSION: The incidence rates have been steadily increasing for 11 years since 1987. The rate in 1998 was over 1.5 times higher than that in 1987. The age and sex distributions were identical in each survey. Although most of the cardiac lesions at the acute stage decreased to half or less 1 month after onset, giant aneurysms did not decrease and existed persistently after 1 month.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed2001

Genotype-phenotype linkage for directed evolution and screening of combinatorial protein libraries.

The technologies for screening peptide and protein libraries for studies in the fields of directed protein evolution and functional genomics have advanced with astonishing speed. For screening of functional proteins, three technologies are required: (i) the construction of a gene library (genotype), (ii) the establishment of a linkage between each protein (phenotype) and its encoding gene (genotype), and (iii) the selection of desired proteins (phenotype) from the library. This review highlights the genotype-phenotype linkage technologies, which can be classified into three types; that is, cell-type linkage, virus-type linkage, and array-type linkage methods. These methods are summarized, and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

The profiles of Kawasaki disease in China.

Kawasaki disease in China was described for the first time in 1976 in Taiwan, and in 1978 in mainland, respectively. Questionnaire surveys had been conducted in both of the area of China and showed that the Kawasaki disease patients increased year by year. No data on incidence rates were available for these surveys because the problem of representativeness. However, it showed that there were many similar characteristics of Kawasaki disease in China comparing with those in Japan. Although a series of infectious agents were suspected, the etiology of Kawasaki disease remained unclear. High dose of gamma globulin treatment was also adopted commonly in China.

Child↗
PubMed2001

CD40 and IFN-gamma dependent T cell activation by human bronchial epithelial cells.

We examined whether freshly isolated human bronchial cells (HBEC) and bronchial epithelial cell line/BEAS-2B cells expressed surface molecules required for APC function. These cells expressed CD40 and ICAM-1, but not B7-1, B7-2 or HLA-DR molecules. Treatment of these cells with IFN-gamma resulted in enhanced expression of CD40 and ICAM-1 as well as induction of HLA-DR expression. Th2 cytokines such as IL-4 and IL-5, proinflammatory cytokine of GM-CSF and nonspecific activator endotoxin had no effect on these phenotypic expressions. Functional examinations showed that allogeneic lymphocytes purified from peripheral blood strongly proliferated in response to BEAS-2B cells cultured with IFN-gamma, but only weakly compared with those without IFN-gamma. When allogeneic lymphocytes were purified to CD4+ cells, the proliferative response against BEAS-2B cells was abolished. Blockade of CD40-CD40L interaction by anti-CD40 antibody also inhibited the proliferation of lymphocytes to BEAS-2B cells, although this treatment showed a minimum effect on the response to allogeneic MNC. Thus, bronchial epithelial cells have the ability to present allogeneic antigens to T cells in both CD40- and IFN-gamma-dependent manners under the presence of third party cells that transduce co-stimulatory signals.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗