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Biomedical subjects

J F Weiss

Publications and source records attributed to J F Weiss.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Serum acute-phase proteins and immunoglobulins in patients with gliomas.

Cellular immune competence was found to be impaired in previous studies of patients with malignant brain tumors. In patients with nonneural tumors, we recently found that serum levels of acute-phase proteins were related to immune status as well as to tumor extent. To determine whether the serum proteins in patients with central nervous system tumors show similar changes, levels of acute-phase proteins (alpha1-acid glycoprotein, alpha1-antitrypsin, haptoglobin, C-reactive protein) and immunoglobulins (immunoglobulins G, M, and A) were assayed in patients with gliomas prior to treatment. Compared to normals, significant increases (p less than 0.001) in the acute-phase proteins were found, and the levels were similar to those in patients with nonneural solid neoplasms. Serum immunoglobulins were not significantly increased in patients with gliomas.

Alpha-Globulins↗
PubMed1978

Effect of maleic anhydride-vinyl ether on the lymphocyte subpopulations of tumor-bearing, irradiated mice.

The splenic T- and B-lymphocyte populations of BALB/c mice were determined in Madison lung carcinoma 109-bearing animals. Concurrently, some groups of tumored mice were exposed to 500 rads of whole-body irradiation and were treated with one dose of maleic anhydride-vinyl ether (MVE). By direct immunofluorescence, it was found that the percentage of splenic T lymphocytes was significantly depressed in the tumored-irradiated mice. Mitogenic studies revealed that the T lymphocytes were more depressed in the tumored-irradiated mice than in the corresponding nonirradiated tumored mice. MVE was relatively effective in reconstituting the T-cell compartment of these splenic T lymphocytes. The B-cell compartment of the splenic lymphocytes of the tumored-irradiated mice was found to be extremely radiosensitive. Utilizing a specific anti-B serum, no B lymphocytes were detected during the testing. Blastogenic studies using lipopolysaccharide as the mitogenic probe revealed that the incorporation of 3H-TdR of the tumored-irradiated mice was just slightly higher than background values. MVE proved to be relatively ineffective in reconstituting the splenic B cells of the tumored-irradiated mice.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Correlations among serum protein-bound carbohydrates, serum glycoproteins, lymphocyte reactivity, and tumors burden in cancer patients.

Levels of glycoprotein-associated carbohydrates (neutral hexoses, hexosamine, sialic acid and fucose) were determined in the serum of patients with either local, regional or metastatic cancer, patients clinically cured of cancer, and controls (smokers and nonsmokers). Total protein-bound carbohydrates were compared with levels of 17 normal serum glycoproteins, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and with lymphocyte reactivity to phytohemagglutin (PHA). Tumor burden was directly related to protein-bound carbohydrate levels in patient groups. Levels of bound carbohydrates reflect the sum of all the changes in serum glycoproteins, but primarily changes in the acute-phase proteins (alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, alpha 1-antitrypsin, haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin) found in the alpha-globulin fraction of serum. Increases in protein-bound carbohydrates in tumor-bearers were not related to increases in CEA. Increased levels of the acute-phase proteins occurred in individuals with depressed in vitro lymphocyte reactivity to PHA. A significant positive correlation was found between lymphocyte reactivity and level of alpha 2HS-glycoprotein. The results suggest that serum protein-bound carbohydrates or glycoproteins may be of adjunctive value is assessing tumor burden and immune reactivity in cancer patients.

Carbohydrates↗
PubMed1976

Desmosterol in human and experimental brain tumors in tissue culture.

Desmosterol, a possible chemical indicator of brain tumors, was detected in cells of neurogenic, nitrosourea-induced rat tumors (neurinomas and gliomas, C6 cell line) and in human astrocytomas grown in lipid-poor media. A further increase in the amount of cell desmosterol was obtained when triparanol was added to media containing delipidized serum. Cholesterol was replaced almost completely by desmosterol in tumor cells grown in media containing nontoxic levels of 20,25-diazacholesterol. Desmosterol did not accumulate when these inhibitors of desmosterol-reductase were added to culture media containing cholesterol and other lipids (whole fetal calf serum). The results demonstrate that tumors of the nervous system grown in tissue culture are capable of sterol synthesis, and indicate that a central mechanism of cholesterol synthesis is operative in these cells, which may be related to the availability of exogenous cholesterol. It is concluded that these findings are relevant to clinical studies on the use of cholesterol inhibitors as tools for the detection of brain tumor activity.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Desmosterol in rat central and peripheral nervous systems during normal and neoplastic growth.

Desmosterol (5, 24-cholestadien-3beta-ol; delta 24-cholesterol; 24-dehydrocholesterol), an immediate precursor of brain cholesterol, increased in malignant intracranial tumors induced in rats by nitrosourea derivatives. The average increase in desmosterol was higher in intracerebral gliomas than in neurinomas of the trigeminal nerve. Similarly, desmosterol increased only slightly in developing normal trigeminal nerve compared to the high levels observed in developing cerebrum. The differences may have been partly related to the predominantly growing cell type, i.e., glial (central nervous system) or Schwann (peripheral nervous system) cells seen at the time of study.

Age Factors↗