Comment on the need to introduce a T=1 quasideuteron.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Terasawa.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Glycyrrhetic acid (GA), an aglycone of glycyrrhizin (GL), is a potent inhibitor of 11 beta- and 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases. 11 beta-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity of rat liver microsomes was potently inhibited by GA, 3-deoxyglycyrrhetic acid (3-deoxyGA), 3-ketoglycyrrhetic acid (3-ketoGA), 3-epiglycyrrhetic acid (3-epiGA) and 11-deoxoglycyrrhetic acid (11-deoxoGA), with I50 values of 2-4 x 10(-7) M. However, 18 alpha-stereoisomers (I50 = 3-7 x 10(-6) M) of GA, 3-deoxyGA and 11-deoxoGA were one tenth less inhibitory on the enzyme activity than the corresponding 18 beta-isomers. On the other hand, 18 alpha-stereoisomers of GA, 3-deoxyGA and 11-deoxoGA inhibited 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity of rat liver cytosol more potently than the corresponding 18 beta-isomers. I50 values of 18 alpha- and 18 beta-isomers were 2 and 7 x 10(-6) M, respectively, in the case of GA, 8 and 20 x 10(-6) M in 3-deoxyGA, 3 and 20 x 10(-6) M in 11-deoxoGA. These results indicate that the 18 beta-conformation of oleanane is important for the inhibition of 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase but on the contrary the 18 alpha-conformation is important for the inhibition of 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase.
On Northern hybridization using the cDNA of type 2C protein phosphatase as a probe, substantial amount of the mRNA of type 2C protein phosphatase was detected in various organs of rats, suggesting that the type 2C protein phosphatase gene is a housekeeping gene. A relatively high level of the mRNA, however, was found in skeletal muscle compared with other organs. Similar results were obtained with the organs of mice. In addition, the mRNA level in C3H10T1/2 cells (embryonal mesenchymal cells of mice) was much lower than in mature skeletal muscle of mice. The mRNA level of type 2C protein phosphatase was enhanced in accordance with the differentiation of the C3H10T1/2 cells into myoblasts induced by the transfection of MyoD cDNA. These results suggest that type 2C protein phosphatase is related to the mechanism of differentiation of skeletal muscle cells.
Type 2C phosphatase is one of the four major protein serine.threonine phosphatases (types 1, 2A, 2B and 2C). The mRNA level of the enzyme protein was 11.5 times higher in mouse skeletal muscle than in undifferentiated mesenchymal cells (C3H10T1/2). The mRNA level was enhanced 4.2-fold in accordance with the differentiation of C3H10T1/2 cells into myoblasts induced by transfection with a MyoD1 expression vector, and this high level was maintained in terminally differentiated myotubes. Furthermore, type 2C phosphatase activity in both myoblast and myotube fractions was slightly higher than in control C3H10T1/2 cells. These results indicate that the expression of type 2C phosphatase gene is enhanced during the course of myogenic differentiation.
Affected erythrocytes in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) have been detected as complement-sensitive cells by the complement sensitivity assay. Decay-accelerating factor (DAF), a molecular mass of 70 kDa complement-regulatory membrane glycoprotein, has been reported to be deficient on affected PNH blood cells. In the present study, DAF on erythrocytes from 12 patients with PNH were stained by an immunocytochemical method and the ratio of DAF+ erythrocytes was compared with their laboratory data concerning hemolysis, almost all normal human erythrocytes stained positively for DAF. In contrast, various percentages of DAF+ erythrocytes were found in the patients with PNH. The percentages of DAF+ erythrocytes correlated positively with the total amounts of DAF on erythrocytes measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), negatively with % hemolysis in Ham's test and in sucrose hemolysis assay and with percentages of PNH type III (PNH-III) erythrocytes. In some patients with PNH, subpopulations of erythrocytes weakly-positive for DAF were demonstrated in addition to DAF- erythrocytes. The immunocytochemical method for staining DAF on erythrocytes developed in the present study is useful for the detection of affected PNH erythrocytes and applicable to further studies on membrane defects in PNH.
Outpatients with advanced and recurrent breast cancer were treated by a combination therapy of the following drugs: doxifluridine (5'-DFUR) orally administered at a dose of 1200 mg/day; cyclophosphamide (CPA) orally given at dose of 100 mg/day; and tamoxifen (TAM) orally given at dose of 20 mg daily. 5'-DFUR and CPA were administered on consecutive days 1-14, then discontinued for 14 days. The response rate was 44.8% including five CR and eight PR out of 29 complete cases. As for response cases in terms of the subject lesions, corresponding cases were chiefly found in soft tissue and the lung. As for the response rate with or without pretreatment, cases previously treated showed a higher response rate such as 42.9% indicating that the present therapy was effective in pretreatment cases. The main side effect was leukopenia, but not so severe. Few cases with diarrhea were found. Based on the above findings, the present treatment is conceivably a highly useful therapy, on an outpatient basis, for advanced and recurrent breast cancer, especially metastatic lesions of soft tissue and the lung.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
In order to clarify the characterization of phenotypes of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) erythrocytes (E), we analysed the expression of decay accelerating factor (DAF) and CD59/membrane attack complex inhibition factor (MACIF) on the membrane surface of PNH-E by means of the flow cytometric method using anti-DAF and/or CD59/MACIF monoclonal antibodies in nine PNH-patients. In two-colour analysis, this expression of PNH-E was classified into three fractions; negative, intermediate and positive according to intensity. The negative fraction was classified into two groups; one group an exclusively negative population, and the other a negative population having slightly DAF-positive E. The intermediate fraction was recognized on PNH-E of cases with PNH II-E and extremely heterogenous. In the positive fraction, this expression was almost the same as on normal E except for case 8. In single-colour analysis for DAF or CD59/MACIF, three fractions were classified as well as the definition in two-colour analysis. In single-colour analysis, the expression on PNH-E was also heterogenous in each fraction and among PNH-patients. However, the intermediate fraction for CD59/MACIF was not found on PNH-E of cases without PNH II-E, although intermediate fraction for DAF was recognized on PNH-E of some cases with PNH III-E in addition to those with PNH II-E. The results suggest that expression of CD59/MACIF and DAF on the membrane surface of PNH-E phenotypes is heterogenous and varies among PNH patients.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
YM133, the 4"-O-(4-methoxyphenyl)acetyltylosin, is a new macrolide. The in vitro activity of YM133 was compared with those of erythromycin, josamycin, and rokitamycin by an agar dilution method. YM133 inhibited 90% of the tested isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Legionella spp., and anaerobic bacteria at less than or equal to 1.56 micrograms/ml. The drug inhibited 90% of erythromycin-resistant staphylococci and Streptococcus pyogenes at less than or equal to 50 micrograms/ml. YM133 showed activity against erythromycin-, josamycin-, and rokitamycin-resistant (MIC greater than or equal to 100 micrograms/ml) strains of staphylococci, streptococci, Bacteroides spp., and Clostridium spp. Enterococci were less susceptible to other YM133-like macrolides. Unlike other macrolides, YM133 showed killing activity, and the MBC/MIC ratios of YM133 for several strains were 1:32, whereas those of erythromycin were 4:1,024. In a time-kill curve study, the reduction of viable cells started within 2 h after the addition of YM133.
Erythrocytes from patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria are deficient in decay-accelerating factor (DAF), a factor called C8-binding protein or homologous restriction factor, acetylcholinesterase (AchE), and lymphocyte function-associated antigen 3 (LFA-3). These proteins share a common feature that glycan-inositolphospholipid anchors the protein to the membrane, suggesting that an abnormality related to this glycolipid causes multiple protein deficiencies. The relationship between the DAF, AchE, and LFA-3 defects was studied by fluorescent flow cytometric analysis. In five patients, DAF-negative erythrocytes were also AchE-negative. In three patients, a fraction of DAF-negative erythrocytes expressed subnormal levels of AchE, indicating that AchE was synthesized in these DAF-negative cells. Erythrocytes from the patients having DAF-negative, AchE-positive cells were separated according to density and analyzed for expression of DAF and AchE. Both proteins decreased with increase of cell density, suggesting that DAF-negative, AchE-positive cells become AchE-negative during erythrocyte maturation by losing AchE. A low level of LFA-3 was found on DAF-negative erythrocytes from one patient and decreased with erythrocyte maturation. These results support an idea that complete deficiency of glycan-inositolphospholipid-anchored proteins on erythrocytes could result from abnormally early termination of surface recruitment of these proteins, and subsequent dilution through cell divisions and loss from the surface.
A 47-year-old woman with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) was found to have an inherited deficiency in the ninth complement component (C9). In complement-sensitivity lysis tests, 80% of her erythrocytes were markedly complement-sensitive (PNH-III). Laser cytofluorimetry with a monoclonal antibody against decay-accelerating factor (DAF) revealed that 95% of her erythrocytes were DAF-negative. Surprisingly, she has suffered only mild haemolysis and has never experienced massive spontaneous haemolysis. Gross haemoglobinuria and jaundice occurred only after receiving postoperative transfusion of whole blood. In her serum, C9 was not detectable either by immunological or by functional assays. Both the Ham test and the sugar water test using normal human serum or plasma yielded marked haemolysis of the patient's erythrocytes. When the patient's serum or plasma was used, only a trace of lysis was detected. Addition of purified human C9 to her plasma fully restored haemolysis. These observations indicated that C9 may play a critical role in haemolytic attacks in patients with PNH and that characteristic haemolysis in PNH may be tempered by coexisting C9 deficiency.
In order to investigate erythropoiesis in paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH), the relative proportions of complement-mediated lysed erythroblasts in individual bursts of two cases of PNH were analysed by a modified complement lysis sensitivity test using the trypan blue dye exclusion method. All bursts contained both complement-sensitive and complement-insensitive erythroblasts and the ratio between them varied from burst to burst. The means +/- SD of the haemolytic percentages of individual bursts in cases 1 and 2 were 30.9 +/- 10.8% (n = 20, ranging from 13.2% to 52.8%) and 54.8 +/- 16.4% (n = 31, ranging from 26.4% to 82.5%), respectively. In addition, the cumulative frequency distributions of the proportions of complement-mediated lysed erythroblasts in individual bursts approached normal frequency distributions. These results suggest that two red cell populations with different susceptibilities to complement in PNH are derived from a single population of erythropoietic progenitor cells rather than a dual population of normal and PNH erythropoietic progenitor cells.
We have established a novel cell line, designated as TF-1, from a patient with erythroleukemia, which showed complete growth dependency on granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or on interleukin-3 (IL-3) and carried a homogeneous chromosomal abnormality (54X). Erythropoietin (EPO) also sustained the short-term growth of TF-1, but did not induce erythroid differentiation. These three hematopoietic growth factors acted on TF-1 synergistically. Transforming growth factor-beta and interferons inhibited the factor-dependent growth of TF-1 cells in a dose-dependent fashion, and monocyte-colony stimulating factor and interkeukin-1 enhanced the GM-CSF-dependent growth of TF-1. Ultrastructural studies revealed some very immature features in this cell line. Although TF-1 cells do not express glycophorin A or carbonyl anhydrase I, the morphological and cytochemical features, and the constitutive expression of globin genes, indicate the commitment of TF-1 to erythroid lineage. When induced to differentiate, TF-1 entered two different pathways. Specifically, hemin and delta-aminolevulinic acid induced hemoglobin synthesis, whereas TPA induced dramatic differentiation of TF-1 into macrophage-like cells. In summary, TF-1 is a cell line of immature erythroid origin that requires GM-CSF, IL-3, or EPO for its growth and that has the ability to undergo differentiation into either more mature erythroid cells or into macrophage-like cells. TF-1 is a useful tool for analyzing the human receptors for IL-3, GM-CSF, and EPO or the signal transduction of these hemopoietic growth factors.
To clarify the regulation of erythropoiesis of complement (C')-sensitive erythrocytes (E) during erythroid cell maturation and differentiation in paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH), the C' sensitivity of (1) erythroblasts from erythropoietic bursts and (2) erythropoietic precursors was examined in seven patients with PNH. For the former, a modified complement lysis sensitivity (CLS) test using the trypan blue dye exclusion method was employed. For the latter, an erythropoietic cell culture following the CLS or sucrose haemolysis (SH) test for mononuclear cells was used. Linear relationships were found between the concentrations of C' and proportions of C'-mediated haemolysed erythroblasts in both PNH and normal erythropoietic bursts. In addition, PNH erythroblasts showed hypersensitivity to C'; in the C' dilution for 50% lysis was 12.5 +/- 8.1 ml in PNH patients and 42.3 +/- 4.5 ml in normal controls. There was also a significant correlation (r = 0.919; P less than 0.01) between the proportions of PNH-III E and haemolysed erythroblasts. Significant hypersensitivity of mature erythroid progenitors (CFU-E) to C' was found in both the SH (P less than 0.01 or P less than 0.05) and CLS (r = -0.712; P less than 0.001) tests in PNH patients. However, no hypersensitivity to C' was observed at the primitive erythroid progenitors (BFU-E) level in either the PNH patients or the normal controls. These findings suggest that in PNH the property of C' sensitivity appears during differentiation and maturation from BFU-E to CFU-E and that the proportions of PNH-III E are already programmed at the level of erythroblasts.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.