Assignment of the human alpha 1,3-fucosyltransferase IX gene (FUT9) to chromosome band 6q16 by in situ hybridization.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Kudo.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
In order to enhance cell mediated cytotoxicity, bispecific antibodies (BsAbs), molecules combining two or more antibodies with different antigenic specificities, have been developed as new agents for immunotherapy. Our recent studies revealed that simultaneous administration of two kinds of BsAbs (anti-tumor x anti-CD3 plus anti-tumor x anti-CD28) together with lymphokine activated killer cells with a T cell phenotype (T-LAK cells) inhibited growth of human xenotransplanted tumors in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, while single BsAb was without effect. Three kinds of BsAbs (anti-tumor x anti-CD3, anti-tumor x anti-CD28, anti-tumor x anti-CD2) showed the highest cytotoxicity against tumor cells when given simultaneously with T-LAK cells or peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro and in vivo. BsAbs can be preserved for immediate application, while cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) must be made-to-order, and are time-consuming to prepare. Tumor associated antigens, such as MAGE antigens, SART antigens, MUC1 antigen, c-erbB 2 antigen or cancer/testis antigens can be served to target antigens for BsAb production. By conjugation with antibodies to effector cells (anti-CD3, anti-CD28, anti-CD16, anti-CD64, anti-CD89 or anti-CD2), many kinds of BsAbs can be produced to cover most types of cancers from different organs. Therefore this strategy might be ubiquitously applicable to most malignancies.
The pharmacodynamic effects of cisdiamminedichloroplatinum(II) (CDDP) in vitro have been reported, but the dosage and exposure time in vitro have not been based on clinical observations of the drug's actions in vivo. In this study, the authors attempted to evaluate the pharmacodynamic effects of CDDP in vitro in terms of cell survival and DNA crosslinking by simulating unbound CDDP administration at varying concentrations to a rat mammary adenocarcinoma line (known as line 66). CDDP exposure was conducted by both constant concentration procedures and a simulated in vivo procedure. Colony formation assay for the surviving fraction and alkaline elution assay for DNA crosslink measurement were performed in order to evaluate the pharmacodynamics of CDDP. Cell survival was a function of the area under the drug concentration time curve (AUC) of unbound CDDP (R2 = 0.77, P < 0.002) for all drug exposure procedures as analyzed by the analysis of covariance test. There was a strong correlation between the surviving fraction and the crosslink index of the total amount of DNA crosslinks (R2 = 0.85, P < 0.0005). Both the total amount of DNA-DNA crosslinks and the DNA-protein crosslinks, of which the latter were dominant, were affected not by the exposure procedures, but by the AUC value (P < 0.002). The thresholds of cytocidal effect were 1.59 mg.h/l for the AUC and 0.008 for the crosslink index. The pharmacodynamic effects in vitro by simulated in vivo exposure were identical to those of constant.
Our purpose was to investigate developmental alterations of human alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) oligosaccharides in maternal serum by lectin affinity electrophoresis and to compare the AFP glycoforms in maternal serum with those in umbilical cord serum and amniotic fluid. AFP glycoforms were separated by affinity electrophoresis with concanavalin A (Con A), lentil lectin (LCA), erythroagglutinating phytohemagglutinin (E-PHA) and Allomyrina dichotoma lectin (allo A) and detected by sensitive antibody affinity blotting. In maternal serum, increased proportions of Con A-nonreactive AFP (AFP-C1), LCA strongly-reactive AFP (AFP-L3) and E-PHA-reactive AFP (AFP-P4 and AFP-P5) decreased gradually during the early gestational weeks. Allo A-nonreactive AFP (AFP-A1 and asialo-AFP) were found only in amniotic fluids during early gestational weeks. The percentages of these glycoforms at full term were almost the same among those body fluids. Since the glycoforms of maternal serum AFP were close to those of umbilical cord serum AFP, lectin-affinity electrophoretic analysis of maternal serum AFP may be useful for evaluating the developmental state of fetus by examining the nature of AFP sugar chain.
The object of this study was to clarify the association of platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF)/thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase), separately assessed in cancer cells and in stroma cells, with clinicopathological factors including tumor angiogenesis and prognosis in cervical cancer. The expression of PD-ECGF was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining in 92 patients with stage Ib-II cervical cancer. The microvessel count was assessed by immunostaining for factor VIII-related antigen in the most neovascularized area. Microvessel count was significantly higher in tumors with non-squamous cell carcinoma. PD-ECGF expression in cancer cells was significantly higher in tumors with pelvic node metastasis and squamous cell carcinoma. Immunopositivity for PD-ECGF in stroma cells was significantly higher in tumors with large size and deep stromal invasion. The microvessel counts in cases with positive PD-ECGF expression in stroma cells were significantly higher than those in cases with negative PD-ECGF expression in stroma cells (p=0.048). Disease-free survival and overall survival were significantly worse in patients with deep stromal invasion, parametrial involvement, vaginal involvement, lymph-vascular space involvement, pelvic lymph node metastasis and high microvessel count. A multivariate analysis using Cox's proportional hazard model showed that high microvessel count independently predicted disease-free and overall survival. The expression of PD-ECGF in stroma cells may play a crucial role in the promotion of angiogenesis and tumor angiogenesis can be used as a useful prognostic marker for cervical cancer.
The object of this study was to clarify the association of angiogenic factor, platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF)/thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) with clinicopathological factors including tumor angiogenesis and patient outcome in endometrial cancer. There was no correlation between the expression of PD-ECGF in cancer cells and any of the clinicopathological variables. Immunopositivity for PD-ECGF in stroma cells was significantly higher in poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas. The microvessel counts correlated with PD-ECGF positive stroma cells (p<0.0001). Disease-free survival was significantly worse in patients with marked PD-ECGF expression in stromal cells and high microvessel count. A multivariate analysis using Cox's proportional hazard model showed that high microvessel counts independently predicted disease-free survival as well as stage and myometrial invasion. The expression of PD-ECGF in stroma cells may play a crucial role in the promotion of angiogenesis. Tumor angiogenesis can be used to predict prognosis in patients with endometrial cancer.
PURPOSE: We have reviewed clinical characteristics of bladder cancer in adolescent patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1978 and 1997, we have experienced eight bladder cancer patients of 7 men and 1 woman under 30 years old. Two patients were less than 20 years old and six patient were more than 20 years old. We have reviewed initial symptoms, diagnostic methods, cystoscopic findings, methods of treatment, pathological findings, and prognosis of these patients. RESULTS: The most common chief complaint was asymptomatic macroscopic hematuria. Cystoscopically, all tumors were papillary and solitary except in one case. All of tumors were superficial transitional cell carcinomas and treated with transurethral resection (TUR). Although the tumors in patients of less than 20 years old were pathologically grade 1 and 2, two cases of grade 3 tumors were found in patients more than 20 years old. The prognosis of these patients were good, for none of them was dead and the recurrence rate after TUR was 12.5% (1/8). CONCLUSIONS: We considered that characteristics of bladder cancer in adolescent patients were low stage, low grade, and good prognosis. But it was found that high grade tumors were contained in patients more than 20 years old.
It has been considered that the urethral obstruction influence the function and the nerve innervation of the bladder. In this study, the changes in the bladder function and the nerve growth factor (NGF) synthesized in the bladder were systematically analyzed both during partial urethral obstruction and after its relief in the rat. The maximum contraction pressure was temporally decreased and then increased 1.5 times of the normal level 6 week after the obstruction. NGF in the bladder, measured by ELISA method, was rapidly increased 5 times of the normal level 1 day after the obstruction. It gradually decreased 2 weeks after the obstruction but did not recover to the normal level. The maximum contraction pressure and the bladder NGF recovered to the normal level after the removal of 1 to 6 weeks obstruction. These results suggest that partial urethral obstruction reversibly increases the contractility and the NGF synthesis of the bladder.
PURPOSE: To investigate the long-term prognosis for primary conjunctival malignant melanomas in Japan. MATERIALS & METHODS: We conducted a survey of 61 cases which had been reported in a 38-year period (1959 to 1996). We gathered information regarding the survival of patients, the post-operative follow-up period, the causes of death, and recurrences. Answers were obtained segarding 51 cases (84%). Detailed progress was identified in 23 of these cases. The survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: The survival rates were 95.1% after 1 year, 72.9% after 3 years, and 53.4% after 5 years. These values are relatively low compared with those reported in Europe and the United States.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A 67-year-old woman with bullous pemphigoid (who had no history of hemorrhagic disease or blood transfusion) experienced extensive ecchymosis of the trunk and extremities and marked submucosal bleeding of the pharynx and larynx with risk of obstruction and suffocation. This bleeding tendency was the manifestation of a coagulation disorder due to factor VIII inhibitor. Immunosuppressive therapy, steroid pulse therapy, prednisolone (PSL), and cyclophosphamide (CPA) alleviated the bleeding and yielded negative assays for factor VIII inhibitor. However, because the patient stopped treatment, the bleeding recurred and was especially severe from a large hematoma with ruptured skin on the right hand. The bleeding was mitigated by transfusion of factor VIII concentrate combined with steroid pulse therapy. This was followed by CPA pulse therapy and oral PSL and CPA, resulting in the disappearance of factor VIII inhibitor again. We reported this case because factor VIII inhibitor complication of bullous pemphigoid is very rare and immunosuppressive therapy consisting of PSL, CPA, and pulse therapy was effective.
A new triple therapy using a proton pump inhibitor and two antibiotics shows high efficiency against Helicobacter pylori infection. The aim of this study was to determine the optimal dose and duration of lansoprazole (LA) administration in combination with amoxicillin (AMPC) and metronidazole (MNZ). A total of 91 patients were enrolled in this study. They were divided into four groups: group A, 2 weeks of 30mg LA once daily, 500mg AMPC tid, and 250mg MNZ tid; group B, 2 weeks of 30mg LA bid, 500mg AMPC tid, and 250mg MNZ tid; group C, 1 week of 30mg LA once daily, 500mg AMPC tid, and 250mg MNZ tid; group D, 1 week of 30mg LA bid, 500mg AMPC tid, and 250mg MNZ tid. H. pylori status was determined by the rapid urease test, culture, histology, and 13C-urea breath test before and at least 4 weeks after the end of therapy. The cure rates in a per-protocol analysis and the incidence of adverse events in the evaluated patients were, respectively, 89.5% and 21.1% in group A, 100% and 20.0% in group B, 96.8% and 12.9% in group C, and 92.3% and 26.9% in group D. Most of the adverse events were tolerated. All four regimens in this study showed the same cure rates, and they were effective and well tolerated. One week of triple therapy using once-daily administration of 30mg LA is a good alternative.
Twenty-five patients with advanced cervical cancer (IIb-IVa) were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical hysterectomy or radiotherapy. According to the evaluation by MRI, complete response was achieved in 2 cases and partial response in 17 cases. Eventually the response rate was 76%. The response rate was higher in squamous cell carcinomas (85%) than adenocarcinomas or adenosquamous carcinomas (67%). The histological effect is superior in squamous cell carcinomas than adenocarcinomas or adenosquamous carcinomas. Radical hysterectomy was performed in 5 cases of 11 (45%) stage III-IVa cervical cancers. There was no correlation between tumor size and response to NAC. NAC therapy may be useful therapy in advanced cervical cancers, especially squamous cell carcinomas.
Transcription levels of the non-specific delta-aminolevulinate synthase (ALAS-N) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in the placenta at the terminal stage of pregnancy were comparable to those in the female adult liver and in the spleen, respectively. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated that both enzymes were exclusively expressed in the trophoblast. During gestation, transcript of ALAS-N slightly increased, while HO-1 mRNA significantly decreased. Induced acute fetal hypoxia resulted in an increase in ALAS-N mRNA and in a decrease in HO-1 mRNA. These findings indicate that placental heme metabolism is influenced by the oxygen supply.
The 3-fucosyl-N-acetyllactosamine (Lewis x, CD15, SSEA-1) carbohydrate epitope is widely distributed in many tissues and is developmentally expressed in some rodent and human tissues, i.e. brain and lung, and mouse early embryo. In such tissues, the Lewis x epitope is considered to be involved in cell-cell interactions. We isolated a novel mouse alpha1,3-fucosyltransferase gene, named mFuc-TIX, from an adult mouse brain cDNA library using the expression cloning method. On flow cytometric analysis, Namalwa cells transfected stably with the mFuc-TIX gene showed a marked increase in Lewis x epitopes but not sialyl Lewis x epitopes. As seen experiments involving oligosaccharides as acceptor substrates, mFuc-TIX transfers a fucose to lacto-N-neotetraose but not to either alpha2,3-sialyl lacto-N-neotetraose or lacto-N-tetraose. The substrate specificity of mFuc-TIX was similar to that of mouse myeloid-type alpha1,3-fucosyltransferase (mFuc-TIV). The deduced amino acid sequence of mFuc-TIX, consisting of 359 residues, indicated a type II membrane protein and shows low degrees of homology to the previously cloned alpha1,3-fucosyltransferases, i.e. mFuc-TIV (48.4%), mouse Fuc-TVII (39.1%), and human Fuc-TIII (43.0%), at the amino acid sequence level. A phylogenetic tree of the alpha1, 3-fucosyltransferases constructed by the neighbor-joining method showed that mFuc-TIX is quite distant from the other alpha1, 3-fucosyltransferases. Thus, mFuc-TIX does not belong to any subfamilies of known alpha1,3Fuc-Ts. The mFuc-TIX transcript was mainly detected in brain and kidney with the Northern blotting and competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction methods, whereas the mFuc-TIV transcript was not detected in brain with these methods. On in situ hybridization, the mFuc-TIX transcript was detected in neuronal cells but not in the glial cells including astrocytes. These results strongly indicated that mFuc-TIX participates in the Lewis x synthesis in neurons of the brain and may be developmentally regulated.
Sialyl-Lex (sLex) antigen expression recognized by KM93 monoclonal antibody was significantly down-regulated during differentiation induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) in human pre-B lymphocytic leukemia cell line KM3. The sLex determinants were almost exclusively expressed on O-linked oligosaccharide chains of an O-glycosylated 150-kDa glycoprotein (gp150). A low shear force cell adhesion assay showed that TPA treatment significantly inhibited E-selectin-mediated cell adhesion. Transcript and/or enzyme activity levels of alpha1-->3-fucosyltransferase, alpha2-->3-sialyltransferase, beta1-->4-galactosyltransferase, and elongation beta1-->3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase did not correlate with sLex expression levels. However, transcript and enzyme activity levels of core 2 GlcNAc-transferase (C2GnT) were significantly down-regulated during TPA treatment. Following transfection and constitutive expression of full-length exogenous C2GnT transcript, C2GnT enzyme activities were maintained at high levels even after TPA treatment and down-regulation of cell surface sLex antigen expression by TPA was completely abolished. Furthermore, in the transfected cells, the KM93 reactivity of gp150 was not reduced by TPA treatment, and the inhibition of cell adhesion by TPA was also blocked. These results suggest that sLex expression is critically regulated by a single glycosyltransferase, C2GnT, during differentiation of KM3 cells.
The microtubule-associated protein tau is abnormally hyperphosphorylated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain. To date, 21 phosphorylated sites of tau have been identified. In the present study the levels of phosphorylation at Ser199/Ser202, Thr231/Ser235, Ser262/Ser356 and Ser396/Ser404 of tau in AD brain homogenate and its 100,000 x g supernatant were determined using radioimmuno-dot-blot assay. In homogenate, Ser199/Ser202 and Ser262/Ser356 were phosphorylated to similar level and were more phosphorylated than Thr231 or Ser396/Ser404. In supernatant, there was no significant difference in phosphorylated tau level among the investigated sites except for Thr231/Ser235 which was least phosphorylated. These results suggest that Ser199/Ser202 and Ser262/Ser356 are major sites of phosphorylation of tau in AD brain.
SPring-8 front ends have a novel structure which makes it easy to rearrange them and exchange the components. The structure has a common support for all the components except X-ray beam-position monitors and lead collimators. The alignment of the common support as well as the components was carried out with an accuracy of 0.25 mm in the vertical and horizontal directions. Replaceable pumping systems have also been placed on the common support and have achieved a vacuum of 2 x 10(-8) Pa at the upstream part of the front ends without synchrotron radiation. During the commissioning with synchrotron radiation, the pumping systems displayed good pumping-down characteristics. Commissioning has been successfully performed for four standard in-vacuum X-ray undulators and three bending-magnet-beamline front ends up to July 1997. Measurements of temperature rise show that absorber, pre-slits and XY slits can handle the anticipated maximum heat load at a ring current of 100 mA.