Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K Uchida.
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Four cases of hypoplastic leukemia, one of acute myelocytic leukemia (M2) and one of RAEB-t were treated with a low-dose 4N-behenoyl-1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (LD-BHAC) regimen, in which 50 mg BHAC was administered daily intravenously by one-hour drip infusion for 14 days. Among the 6 cases, three (2 hypoplastic leukemia and one M2) obtained complete remission and one (hypoplastic leukemia), partial remission. Response rates were 66.6% of all cases, and 75% of cases of hypoplastic leukemia. During treatment, cytopenia was observed in all cases and a decrease in bone marrow nucleated cell counts was recognized in the aged M2 patient with remission. Although side effects of the drug on the digestive system such as anorexia and nausea were observed in some cases, they were all controllable by conventional treatments. The serum concentration of ara-C was measured in 4 cases. The peak level of serum ara-C concentration, 3.62-18.9 ng/ml (mean: 11.74 ng/ml), was observed at the time of cessation of infusion of BHAC, and an ara-C level of 2.75-4.89 ng/ml (mean: 3.54 ng/ml) was still present in the blood 6 hours after the cessation of infusion. It was concluded that LD-BHAC was useful in the clinical management of atypical leukemia and acute myelocytic leukemia in the aged.
A phase II study of a new anthracycline anti-cancer antibiotics, epirubicin (EPI), was undertaken in 71 patients with urothelial malignancies; 40 with advanced urothelial malignancies and 31 with superficial bladder cancer. Out of them 32 patients with advanced stage of urothelial cancer were evaluated for the systemic use of EPI, while 30 patients with superficial bladder cancer for intravesical use. Intravenous administration of this new anticancer antibiotic, at a dosage of 60 mg/m2 every three weeks, showed the response rate of 20.0% for advanced bladder cancer and 14.3% for renal pelvic and ureteral tumors. In cases of superficial bladder cancer, at a dosage of 60 mg/30 ml X 3 day every week in principal, the response rate was 66.7%. Eight out of 30 patients showed complete disappearance of the tumor. Twelve patients also showed more than 50% tumor regression. As for adverse effects no serious cardiotoxicity was demonstrated. Anorexia and other gastrointestinal side effects, such as nausea and vomiting, were also seen. Alopecia and myelosuppression were the major adverse effects among patients with systemic EPI administration. With intravesical use of EPI, cystitis syndrome was the major toxicity. However, no systemic side effects were noted in these cases. In conclusion, EPI was assumed to be effective for the treatment of advanced urothelial tumors and superficial bladder cancer.
The hereditary angioneurotic edema (HANE), owing to its characteristic clinical symptom, episodic formation of localized edema, has been the subject to be discussed in relation to the problems of the mechanism for the edema formation. On the other hand, when HANE is considered from the point of view on the abnormality in the plasma proteinase systems, it has been thought to be a suitable hereditary defect which enables to investigate into the interactions of the plasma proteinase systems. However, when the clinical course of the disease is correlated with the changes in the plasma proteinase systems, it appears very likely to state that HANE is a very unique model disease, in which edema attacks are elicited by the interactions between plasma proteinase systems and vascular system of the microcirculation, that are triggered by the exogenous stimuli under the influence of the control functions of the endocrine systems.
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Double cancers and related family histories were studied in eight patients who had developed cancers in the breasts and other organs. The incidence of double cancer among patients with breast cancer was 1.7% (8/472), and the age at first onset averaged 48. The organs involved were mainly the digestive system, thyroid and female sexual organs. The incidence of cancer was higher in the pedigree of double breast cancer patients than in those with solitary cancer. In follow-up study, it is necessary to elucidate the difference in characteristics between double and solitary breast cancer.
This study compared the histological changes induced by human bladder tumor xenografts following their implantation in the subrenal capsular space of immunocompetent mice (CDF1, 6-10 weeks age). Ten human bladder tumors were studied by light microscopic and electron microscopic methods. All materials were obtained from cold-cup biopsy using endoscopic procedure. Single fragments (1 mm X 1 mm X 1 mm) were implanted on Day 0 under the renal capsule of each mouse. Animals were serially sacrificed from day 2 to day 6 and in some cases as late as day 10. All kidneys were sectioned up to 3 levels at the xenograft and stained with appropriate histological reagents. The results of this study were; 1) infiltration of the tumor with mononuclear cells and neutrophils began on day 4, 2) pretreatment with 200 mg/kg cyclophosphamide before implantation reduced cell infiltration into the xenograft, 3) complete rejection of the tumor on day 8, 4) electron microscopic study showed minimum changes of intracellular organs on day 2, 5) but microscopic architecture was preserved in the tumor explants removed on day 4. This morphological study suggested that histological evaluation on day 4 might be a suitable method of subrenal capsule assay using immunocompetent mice. We therefore tested genitourinary carcinomas to determine their sensitivities to commonly use chemotherapeutic agents using histological criteria. Groups of tumor-bearing mice were treated daily for 3 days. Sensitivities for assays were assessed on day 4 by comparison of histological score. Of the 15 cases evaluated, 20% demonstrated significant oncolytic activity. These data also suggested that a clinically relevant chemosensitivity assay might enhance the selection of appropriate therapy.
Recurrence or intractability of vaginal mycosis may be ascribable to various factors. Attributes of microorganisms that contribute to recurrence and intractability of vaginal mycosis have not fully been elucidated. We studied this problem by means of a modern fungal identification method, strict measurement of the minimum inhibitory concentration and close clinical analysis. As for the detection rate for Candida albicans (C. alb.) and Torulopsis glabrata (T. glab.) as pathogens of vaginal mycosis, we found a relative increase was observed in T. glab. that so far has shown strong adaptability, even under unfavorable environments, to general fungi. The MIC values for clotrimazole (CTZ) against T. glab. were about 4 times as high as those against C. alb. No acquired resistance to CTZ was observed in these 2 groups. Conventional identification methods have been unable to provide conclusive evidence of the self-infection of vaginal mycosis from the anus to the vagina via the vulva. In some of the cases examined in this study, the modern fungal identification method succeeded in demonstrating that the fungal species detected in these three regions were of the same origin. Some of the C. alb. and T. glab. strains which reappeared after treatment were found to be different from those detected before treatment, a finding indicating that reinfection, apart from recurrence, occurred. Besides, treatment occasionally resulted in replacement of C. alb. with T. glab.
Normal and alloxan-diabetic male mice (Crj-ICR) were fed a diet containing 0.5% cholesterol for 5 and 10 weeks, and gallbladder bile was analyzed for cholesterol, phospholipids and bile acids, feces for sterols and bile acids, and plasma and liver for cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides. Normal mice developed no gallstones but the diabetic mice developed cholesterol gallstones with an incidence of 70% by 5 weeks and 80% by 10 weeks after feeding of the cholesterol diet. Diabetic mice fed the ordinary diet also developed stones (23%) by 10 weeks. In the diabetic mice, the gallbladder was enlarged about threefold, and biliary lipid concentration, diet intake, and fecal excretion of sterols and bile acids increased but body weight decreased. Cholic acid and beta-muricholic acid comprised over 40% each of the total biliary bile acids in normal mice, but cholic acid increased to about 80% and beta-muricholic acid decreased to a few percent in the diabetic mice. Fecal excretion of bile acids increased after cholesterol feeding in both normal and diabetic mice, but the increased bile acid in the normal animals was beta-muricholic acid and that in the diabetic mice was deoxycholic acid. The mice that developed gallstones showed a marked increase in biliary cholesterol value and decreases in gallbladder bile and bile acid concentration, but no difference in biliary and fecal bile acid composition, bile acid synthesis, fecal sterols, or plasma and liver lipid levels. Cholesterol absorption was increased in the diabetic mice when examined by plasma 14C/3H ratio and fecal 14C-labeled sterol excretion after a single oral administration of [14C]cholesterol and a simultaneous intravenous injection of [3H]cholesterol. These data led to the conclusion that cholesterol gallstones developed in alloxan-diabetic mice fed excess cholesterol, due to the hyperphagia and the enhancement of cholesterol absorption caused by increases in the synthesis and secretion of cholic acid.
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In order to probe key early molecular events which might be responsible for the initiation of rat pancreatic tumorigenesis by 4-hydroxyaminoquinoline 1-oxide (4-HAQO), the uptake and metabolism of carcinogen and the formation and subsequent repair of DNA adducts were monitored under conditions of high and low tumorigenicity, respectively in partially pancreatectomized and non-operated animals, and in the liver, a non-target organ for this carcinogen. Although uptake of radioactively labelled 4-HAQO was higher in the liver than in the pancreas, generation of DNA adducts was 20 times greater in the latter organ. This discrepancy was probably due to a difference in the metabolic profile of 4-HAQO. The spectrum of the adducts was qualitatively similar in both organs. No qualitative or quantitative differences could be established under the high and low tumorigenicity conditions with regard to DNA adduct formation or persistence. The major difference was the presence of a relatively large extent of pancreatic DNA replication under the high tumorigenic condition. The results indicated that metabolic profile of 4-HAQO, quantity of DNA adducts and levels of DNA replication are key factors involved in initiation of tumorigenesis.
Heparin and heparinoids are known to produce selective aldosterone deficiency in man and experimental animals. To assess the nature of the hypoaldosteronism caused by heparin and heparinoids, we investigated the production of aldosterone and its precursor steroids in response to angiotensin II (AII), ACTH or potassium in adrenal zona glomerulosa cells from dextran sulfate-treated rats compared with that in the cells from vehicle-treated rats. Dextran sulfate-treated rats had a decrease in plasma aldosterone and a reduction in the width of the zona glomerulosa 4 weeks after the treatment (40 mg/day, intramuscularly). In these rats, PRA and plasma AII tended to be high, and plasma corticosterone was normal. Basal aldosterone production, when corrected to a uniform number of cells per group, was similar in cells from dextran sulfate- and vehicle-treated rats. The cells from dextran sulfate-treated rats had a less sensitive and lower response of aldosterone production to AII; an increase by 4 orders of magnitude in the threshold dose for AII and a decrease in the maximal AII-stimulated level. The maximal AII-stimulated levels, but not the basal levels, of pregnenolone, corticosterone and 18-hydroxycorticosterone production were low in the cells from dextran sulfate-treated rats. ACTH produced a similar stimulatory effect on aldosterone production in the cells from dextran sulfate- and vehicle-treated rats. The cells from dextran sulfate-treated rats had a less sensitive and lower response of aldosterone production to potassium; an increase by one order of magnitude in the threshold dose for potassium and a decrease in the maximum potassium-stimulated level, presumably because of the glomerulosa hyporesponsiveness to AII. These results suggest that long-term treatment with dextran sulfate in rats produces selective impairment of adrenal zona glomerulosa cells, involving the specific receptors and the aldosterone biosynthesis, to AII in addition to a reduction in the glomerulosa width.
N-Methyltetrazolethiol (NMTT) increased prothrombin time (PT) and decreased plasma factor VII and prothrombin levels only in vitamin K-deficient male rats. In female rats identical treatment with NMTT did not produce hypoprothrombinemia. Conventional and germ-free rats displayed no significant difference in the manifestation of hypoprothrombinemia, but the increase of PT in NMTT-treated vitamin K-deficient rats was greater in the germ-free males. Estradiol administration or castration of male rats retarded manifestation of vitamin K deficient syndromes such as increases of PT and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), decreases of plasma factor VII and prothrombin levels, and increases of plasma and liver descarboxyprothrombin (PIVKA) levels, and testosterone injection to the castrated rats restored these changes. In female rats testosterone treatment or castration enhanced the manifestation of hypoprothrombinemia and estradiol treatment to the castrated females retarded it. Gamma-glutamyl-carboxylase activity was increased by vitamin K-deficiency but not inhibited by testosterone or NMTT. These data suggest that estrogen protects the rat against manifestation of hypoprothrombinemia even with NMTT treatment, while androgen enhances vitamin K deficiency, and supplementation of vitamin K prevents its deficiency in NMTT-treated rats.
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Carbonmonoxy indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase from rabbit small intestine exhibited two CO stretch bands at 1953 and 1933 cm-1 with half-band widths (delta v 1/2) of both approximately 15 cm-1. Upon addition of an excess amount of L-tryptophan, the substrate, the spectrum changed into that with an intense single band at 1902 cm-1 with the delta v 1/2 of 15 cm-1. Carbonmonoxy L-tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase of Pseudomonas acidovorans in the absence of L-tryptophan showed a fused CO stretch band which consists of two components at 1965 and 1958 cm-1 (delta v 1/2 for the fused band; 25 cm-1), which was converted into a sharp single band at 1968 cm-1 (delta v 1/2; 10 cm-1) upon addition of excess L-tryptophan. On the other hand, CO complex of rat liver L-tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase in the absence of L-tryptophan gave a spectrum with a poorly defined peak around 1961 cm-1. By the addition of L-tryptophan, the spectrum changed into that with two distinct bands at 1972 and 1920 cm-1 (delta v 1/2; 6 and 13 cm-1, respectively). These spectra were insensitive to pH in a range where the enzymes were not denatured (neutral to near pH 9). The infrared spectra of the carbonmonoxy enzymes were also affected by the addition of certain effectors such as skatole and alpha-methyl-DL-tryptophan, which facilitate the binding of L-tryptophan to the catalytic site of intestinal and Pseudomonas enzymes, respectively. However, the changes were of different types from those by the saturating amount of L-tryptophan. Possible mechanisms for these phenomena are discussed in relation to the structure of the heme-CO complex in these heme-containing dioxygenases.