An evaluation of the routes of bacterial contamination occurring during aseptic pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Bacteria↗
Biomedical subjects
L Young
Publications and source records attributed to L Young.
Update on in vitro testing on new drugs in ovarian cancer and melanoma.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Antineoplastic Agents↗
New drugs in ovarian cancer and malignant melanoma: in vitro phase II screening with the human tumor stem cell assay.
The successful development of a soft agar clonogenic assay for human tumor stem cells provides an in vitro technique with a high degree of accuracy for predicting in vivo clinical response to standard anticancer drugs. We used this system to conduct an "in vitro phase II trial" in human ovarian cancer and melanoma. This approach can potentially identify active phase I--II drugs suitable for treatment of given tumor types for specific patients and eliminates the need to subject patients (who would be predicted not to respond) to toxic side effects. In vitro sensitivity for new agents was operationally defined as at least a 70% reduction of tumor colony-forming units (TCFU) at concentrations which are readily achievable pharmacologically. The new agents AMSA and vindesine (as well as vinblastine) appeared to have activity in melanoma, while PALA and thymidine were inactive. Pentamethylmelamine, mitomycin C, methyl-GAG, and AMSA were relatively ineffective in ovarian cancer. Vinblastine and vindesine had definite activity. The human tumor stem cell assay may thus provide the basis for a useful alternative to the current clinical phase II testing approach for identifying antitumor activity of new agents. Validation of this concept with correlative in vitro and in vivo phase II trials of new agents in patients with tumor types predicted to be sensitive is clearly warranted.
Antineoplastic Agents↗
Comparison of two microwave based antigen-retrieval solutions in unmasking epitopes in formalin-fixed tissue for immunostaining.
The present study compared two microwave based antigen-retrieval solutions in their ability to unmask antigenic determinants in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues for Immunostaining. In this regard, two widely used antigen-retrieval solutions, namely 0.05 M glycine-HCl buffer, pH 3.6, containing 0.01% (w/v) (EDTA) and 0.1 M sodium citrate buffer, pH 6.0, were evaluated for (1) their effectiveness in unmasking a wide range of antigenic determinants (2) their ability to yield reproducible results (3) the lack of deleterious effects in any antibody antigen systems of interest. Both of these antigen-retrieval solutions resulted in greatly improved immunostaining following microwave-heating of dewaxed tissue sections for 2 x 5 min. Glycine-HCl buffer solution resulted in stronger immunostaining with antibodies to nuclear antigens [androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), p53, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), Ki-67 and MIB-1], cytoplasmic antigens (actin and factor-VIII) and cell-surface antigens [Cu-18, epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and MT-1 (CD43)], whereas sodium citrate buffer yielded superior immunostaining with antibodies to vimentin, and some cell-surface antigens [common leukocyte antigen (CLA) (CD45) and UCHL-1 (CD45RO)]. The effect of unmasking the epitopes recognized by antibody to PCNA was equally effective with either of the antigen-retrieval solutions. Antibodies to pan-keratin, prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), B lymphocyte antigen (BLA.36, CD20CY) and L26 (CD20) exhibited no enhancement in the intensity of staining with either of the antigen-retrieval solutions.
Antigens↗
An amplified ELISA for human tumour necrosis factor alpha.
An immunoassay for tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is described using a sandwich system which employs a mouse monoclonal as the capture antibody and a polyclonal rabbit anti-TNF-alpha as the detection antibody. The assay utilises a novel enzyme cycling system to amplify the colourimetric signal generated by alkaline phosphatase in the enzyme immunoassay. The assay sensitivity is increased by the use of the AMPAK system. The detection limit of the assay is in the order of 1 pg/ml which is many times greater than is possible with conventional methods of measurement. The advantages of the enzyme-amplified method will be particularly useful in the quantitative determination of low levels of TNF-alpha in body fluids. This assay system was used to measure peripheral serum TNF levels in a group of women with non-malignant gynaecological conditions, the mean TNF-alpha concentration in these subjects was 10 pg/ml.
Animals↗
Working with numbers.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Community Health Nursing↗