A gastric choriocarcinoma cell line synthesizing human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) was established in 1971 by Oboshi et al. and was found to possess human placental alkaline phosphatase. The present paper also deals with the relationship between the cell growth and HCG secretion and with cellular localization of HCG and human placental alkaline phosphatase by cytochemical and ultrastructural methods. This cell line was found to secrete HCG during cellular proliferation, with the maximum secretion in the stationary phase (about 1 muIU/cell/48 hr), and the hormone could be detected in a small proportion of mono- and/or multinuclear cells in both logarithmic and stationary phases. The organ-specific, heat-stable, L-phenylalanine-sensitive, immunoreactive human placental alkaline phosphatase was localized on the cell membrane of many cells. Ultrastructurally, the line consisted mainly of cytotrophoblastic and intermediate cells in the process of syncytial formation, with more or less squamous metaplasia. From these findings it was concluded that the cell line maintained the properties of trophoblastic cells from morphological and functional aspects, i.e., it was a cell line with two distinct marker substances.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗

PubMed1972

[Health and ill health in society. The concept of health. Discussion].

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Health↗

PubMed1970

[Concept of nursing among female high school students].

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Attitude↗

PubMedDate not supplied

HLA-DR shared epitope in familial cases of Japanese rheumatoid arthritis.

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Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Reduced invasiveness and metastasis of Chinese hamster ovary cells transfected with human interleukin-17 gene.

Human IL-17 (hIL-17) stimulates epithelial, endothelial, fibroblastic cells and macrophages to secrete various cytokines. The present study was designed to assess the effects of the transfection of the hIL-17 gene in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. A complementary DNA (cDNA)-encoding hIL-17 was obtained by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification from human CD4+ T-cell cDNA and inserted into the plasmid pRc/CMV to construct an expression vector for hIL-17. CHO cells were transduced with hIL-17 DNA-carrying cytomegalovirus (CMV)-based retroviral vectors. A clone with a high mRNA expression of hIL-17 (CHO/IL-17) was selected by Northem blotting. There was no significant difference in the in vitro growth of cells among parent CHO cells, vector-only transfected cells (CHO/neo) and CHO/IL-17 cells. A Matrigel invasion chamber assay, however, demonstrated significantly lower invasiveness by CHO/IL-17 cells than by either the parent CHO or the CHO/neo cells. There was no difference in the in vivo growth among the cells, when subcutaneously transplanted into nude mice. When injected into the tail vein, however, the number of metastatic nodules in the lungs of CHO/IL-17-injected mice was significantly smaller than that of CHO- or CHO/neo-injected mice. Furthermore, NK activity of spleen cells was significantly higher in nude mice transplanted with CHO/IL-17 cells than in mice transplanted with parent CHO or CHO/neo cells. In conclusion, the hIL-17-gene-transfected CHO cells showed a significantly lower metastatic potential to the lung by directly modulating the invasiveness and metastasis of CHO cells as well as by enhancing NK activity.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Plant polysaccharide PSK: cytostatic effects on growth and invasion; modulating effect on the expression of HLA and adhesion molecules on human gastric and colonic tumor cell surface.

PSK is a plant polysaccharide widely used for cancer immunotherapy in Japan and other Asian countries. It is considered that its antitumor effect is derived from its immunomodulating activity on the tumor-bearing host. The present study was designed to assess the direct action of PSK on in vitro proliferation and invasion of human KATO-3 gastric and Colo205 colonic cancer cell lines, and the expression of surface molecules such as HLA and adhesion molecules on these cells. The in vitro growth of KATO-3 cells was significantly inhibited by 100 micrograms/ml of PSK 48 hrs after culture initiation, and that of Colo205 was significantly inhibited by 10 and 100 micrograms/ml of PSK 24 hrs after culture initiation. The effect of PSK on the in vitro invasion of the tumor cells, assessed with a Matrigel invasion chamber, revealed that invasion of KATO-3 and Colo205 cells was inhibited by more than 10 micrograms/ml and more than 5 micrograms/ml of PSK, respectively. KATO-3 cells expressed HLA-ABC, HLA-A2/A28, HLA-DR very weakly, at almost baseline levels, but HLA-B27, B2-microglobulin and HLA-DQ were expressed at various levels. After treatment of KATO-3 cells with PSK, the expression of HLA-B27 and beta 2-microglobulin was significantly enhanced. Colo205 cells expressed all class-I antigens tested in this study at different levels, but class-II antigens at almost baseline levels. PSK also enhanced the expression of class-I antigens on Colo205 cells. ICAM-1 was expressed on KATO-3, but not on Colo205. The expression of ICAM-1 was enhanced to a greater extent by treatment with 10 micrograms/ml than with 100 micrograms/ml of PSK. Adenocarcinoma antigen AC-81 was strongly expressed on both cell lines, but PSK-treatment significantly enhanced its expression. These results suggested that enhancement of HLA class-I expression on tumor cells after PSK treatment may be one of the mechanisms responsible for the induction of anti-tumor immunity by PSK.

Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Mode of inheritance of HLA-DRB1 shared epitope in Japanese familial rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the mode of genetic contribution of the HLA-DR shared epitope (SE) to the pathogenesis of familial cases of Japanese rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: Fifty-three unrelated Japanese RA families that had more than 2 affected sibs were selected. The HLA-DR shared epitope typing was carried out by the PCR method and PCR-SSCP (single stranded DNA conformation polymorphism) method. Affected sib pair analysis was carried out using the MAPMAKER/SIB 2.0 program. The mode of inheritance was also calculated based on the sharing of genes identical by descent (IBD) between siblings in each of the 53 affected sib-pairs (propositus and the 2nd affected sib). RESULTS: The maximum LOD score of HLA-DR was 0.437, and the sharing of 2 IBDs, 1 IBD, and no IBDs between affected sibs were 0.330, 0.500, and 0.170, respectively. The sharing distribution of IBD was confirmed to be compatible with the dominant or additive mode since the observed gene frequency of SE was 0.255. CONCLUSION: The HLA-DR shared epitope participated in the pathogenesis of familial cases of Japanese RA. The SE contributes to this pathogenesis in either the dominant or additive mode of inheritance.

Adult↗