The immunogenetical relationship among atopic diseases was investigated from the point of human major histocompatibility antigen. The relationship between IgE level and HLA antigen was also discussed. (1) Atopic dermatitis had no high frequency in HLA antigens. HLA-B12 in bronchial asthma and HLA-BW40 in allergic rhinitis were frequently found in the population study. (2) No HLA-BW15 was observed in these three diseases. The term called 'disease-resistant antigen' was proposed in this paper. (3) We considered that IgE level is not controled by HLA antigen.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Clinical features and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in eight patients older than eighty years of age.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Most-hepatocellular carcinoma patients are between 40 and 60 years of age, but an increasing number of elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma is expected in the future because of the increase in life expectancy seen in many countries. Since elderly patients have a high incidence of comorbid illnesses, it should be useful to examine the clinical features of these patients to select the optimal management strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma. METHODOLOGY: A retrospective review of 111 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma was undertaken to examine the clinical features of 8 patients older than 80 years of age. RESULTS: In the 111 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, the ratio of males to females was 81:30 and the peak incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma was noted in the seventh and eighth decades in males and females, respectively. Of these, 21 (19%) were type "B" [seropositive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and seronegative for antibody to the hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV)], 69 (62%) were type "C" (seronegative for HBsAg and seropositive for anti-HCV), 3 (3%) were type "B + C" (seropositive for both HBsAg and anti-HCV), and 18 (16%) were type "non-B non-C" (seronegative for both HBsAg and anti-HCV). The peak incidences of type "B" were in the sixth decade, whereas those of type "C" were in the seventh decade in both males and females. Patients with "non-B non-C" were common in their seventies. Of the 111 patients, 6 (5 males and 1 female) were older than 80 years at the time of diagnosis and 2 females became 80 years old during the course of follow-up of hepatocellular carcinoma. All but one of these patients were anti-HCV-positive, stage and clinical stage I or II according to the criteria defined by the Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan, and underwent transcatheter arterial embolization and/or transcatheter arterial infusion chemotherapy. Transcatheter arterial embolization/transcatheter arterial infusion or percutaneous ethanol injection therapy was well tolerated in these patients, and the outcome of these patients was good. However, concomitant underlying diseases other than liver diseases made it impossible or difficult to apply an aggressive management protocol for hepatocellular carcinoma in some patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the overall treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in the elderly should be similar to that in younger patients, but may be restricted by the concomitant underlying diseases specific to advanced age.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Type I lipid photo-oxidation by the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug suprofen: a possible key to its photosensitivity.

A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug suprofen acted as a photosensitizer to oxidize lipids on ultraviolet A irradiation, that is, squalene and cholesterol in ethanol solution and phosphatidylcholine in liposome membranes. Photo-oxidation of squalene sensitized with suprofen was not repressed by the addition of sodium azide. Photo-oxidation of cholesterol sensitized with suprofen produced 7 alpha- and 7 beta-hydroperoxides but not 5 alpha-hydroperoxide of cholesterol. These findings are consistent with the type I mechanism but not the type II mechanism of photo-oxidation. Suprofen-sensitized photo-oxidation of membrane lipids of liposomes increased leakage of trapped glucose, suggesting photosensitized destabilization of the membrane structure. These results suggest that the photo-oxidation ability of suprofen by the type I mechanism is a possible key to the induction of suprofen photosensitivity.

Cholesterol↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) gene expression in human lung cancer.

Multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) is a 190 kD transmembrane protein and a potentially important drug-transporter protein in human cancers. While the MRP gene is expressed in normal cells and tissues, the expression in solid tumors is not sufficiently determined. MRP and mdr1 mRNA expressions were examined in normal lung parenchyma and in tumor tissues from six small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients who had received preoperative chemotherapy and eleven nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used. Normal lung tissues and all SCLCs expressed abundant levels of MRP mRNA, while the NSCLCs expressed a wide range of levels from low to high. Most tumor tissues coexpressed both MRP and mdr1, but the levels of mdrl expression was low except in two SCLCs and one NSCLC. MRP is more likely than mdr1 to be one of the clinical multidrug resistance mechanisms found in lung cancer.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗