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Alessandra Zucca

Publications and source records attributed to Alessandra Zucca.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Actin polymerization in neutrophils from donors of peripheral blood stem cells: divergent effects of glycosylated and nonglycosylated recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor.

Neutrophil functions can be modified by Recombinant human G-CSF (rhG-CSF) treatment, with divergent effects on phagocytosis, motility, bactericidal activity, and surface molecule expression. Neutrophil morphology is modified by treatment with filgrastim (the nonglycosylated form of rhG-CSF), while it is not affected by lenograstim (the glycosylated type of rhG-CSF). Little information is available about actin polymerization in neutrophils from subjects treated with the two types of rhG-CSF. In the current paper we evaluated two groups of donors of peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) for allogeneic transplantation. Ten subjects were treated with filgrastim and 10 with lenograstim to mobilize PBSC; 15 blood donors were evaluated as a control group. Actin polymerization (both spontaneous and fMLP-stimulated) was studied by a flow cytometric assay. A microscopic fluorescent assay was also carried out to evaluate F-actin distribution in neutrophils. We found that filgrastim induced an increased F-actin content in resting neutrophils, along with morphologic evidence for increased actin polymerization distributed principally at the cell membrane and frequently polarized in focal areas; in addition, fMLP was not able to induce further actin polymerization. On the contrary, treatment with lenograstim was associated with F-actin content, distribution, and polymerization kinetics indistinguishable from those displayed by control neutrophils. Such experimental results show that filgrastim and lenograstim display divergent effects also on neutrophil actin polymerization and provide further explanation for previous experimental findings.

Actins↗

[Bone marrow infiltration in B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas: comparison between flow cytometry and bone marrow biopsy].

A comparison of flow cytometry (FC) and bone marrow biopsy (BMB) to evaluate bone marrow infiltration was made in 114 patients suffering from B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs; 51 at diagnosis, 63 during post-therapy follow-up). The following parameters were indicative of bone marrow infiltration: altered surface k/l ratio; specific immunophenotypic pattern in particular NHLs (CLL, mantle cell lymphoma, hairy cell leukemia). FC and BMB agreed in 89.5% of cases (i.e. both showed 48 positive and 54 negative cases). In discordant cases (7.9%) and in cases not evaluable by FC (2.6%) IgH rearrangement and bcl-1 gene expression, both evaluated by PCR methods, were used to detect bone marrow infiltration with higher precision. These results show that a more complex analysis of bone marrow is needed to diagnose bone marrow infiltration, particularly in samples with minimal residual disease.

Adult↗