For investigating development of second-generation merozoites of Leucocytozoon caulleryi into mature gametocytes, infected erythrocytes from chickens at 15 d after sporozoites inoculation were cultured in RPMI-1640 modified medium supplemented with 10% horse serum and 0.5 ml of human erythrocytes (type O). When culture was carried out at 37 degrees C in a humidified atmosphere or 5% CO2 for 7 d, the very small number of second-generation merozoites developed into morphologically mature gametocytes. However, in the high carbon dioxide and low oxygen condition, mature gametocytes weren't observed in culture. The role of human erythrocytes added has not been clarified yet.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prognostic relevance of urokinase type plasminogen activator, its receptor and inhibitors in chondrosarcoma.

The plasminogen activation system plays an important role in enhancing pericellular proteolysis of tumor invasion/metastasis and in autocrine/paracrine tumor growth stimulation. To investigate the prognostic significance of the plasminogen activation system in human chondrosarcoma, the immunohistochemical expression of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR), plasminogen activator inhibitor, 1 (PAI-1) and 2 (PAI-2) were analyzed in 28 patients with chondrosarcoma. In multivariate survival analysis, histological grade (p = 0.0008) and location (p = 0.02) were independent risk factors for local relapse. For metastasis-free survival, uPA index (p = 0.006) and PAI-2 index (p = 0.04) were independent prognostic factors. PAI-2 index (p = 0.02), uPAR index (p = 0.02) and histological grade (p = 0.03) predicted total survival. These results demonstrated the usefulness of uPA, uPAR and PAI-2 expression as biological prognostic indicator and the importance of the plasminogen activation system in tumor progression and metastasis in chondrosarcoma.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

In vitro chemosensitivity of human soft tissue sarcoma.

Chemotherapy is essential in the treatment of small round cell sarcomas. However, as yet there is no progress concerning the efficacy of chemotherapy in the treatment of other types of soft tissue tumors (STS). The Histoculture Drug Response Assay (HDRA) is an in vitro chemosensitivity test that has a high correlation with clinical response, the usefulness of which has been reported in various kinds of solid tumors. However, there has never been a report on its use in STS until now. In this study, in order to investigate the variation in chemosensitivity in STS, fresh biopsy or surgical samples of STS were tested using the HDRA method. Drug sensitivity testing by HDRA showed that two drugs, ADM and THP, had a significantly higher inhibitory rate than CDDP, IFOS, or VP-16 in the thirty-three soft tissue sarcomas tested. Depending on the morphological type, spindle cell sarcomas were sensitive to THP, which showed significantly higher inhibition rates than CDDP, IFOS, or VP-16. Small round cell sarcomas were relatively sensitive to all of the drugs tested. However the drug sensitivity of pleomorphic cell sarcoma was low except for ADM and THP, while its sensitivity to THP was higher than about 70%. However, there are numerous other soft tissue sarcomas that do not belong to these categories; drug sensitivity testing in each of them and the devising of individualized treatment strategies seems necessary to improve the therapeutic outcome.

Doxorubicin↗