Biomedical subjects

F Birke

Publications and source records attributed to F Birke.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1994

Serum PAF-acetylhydrolase in severe renal or hepatic disease in man: relationship to circulating levels of PAF and effects of nephrectomy or transplantation.

(1) PAF-acetylhydrolases form a major pathway for the degradation of platelet-activating factor (PAF). Here we investigate the role of the kidney and the liver in the control of PAF-acetylhydrolase levels by comparing normal subjects to patients with abnormal liver or kidney function. These patients had either severe chronic liver disease, chronic renal failure or were anephric. In a few cases PAF was also measured. (2) In those patients where PAF was measured there was no evidence that circulating PAF levels determined PAF-acetylhydrolase release. (3) In anephric patients serum PAF-acetylhydrolase levels were normal or even raised. Therefore the kidney is unlikely to be the usual major source of serum PAF-acetylhydrolase in man. (4) Liver patients with chronic cholestasis had elevated serum PAF-acetylhydrolase especially in stage III or IV primary biliary cirrhosis, as well as in a patient with secondary biliary cirrhosis and one with cholangiocarcinoma. Since normalisation of liver function following liver transplantation was accompanied by a reduction to normal or near normal PAF-acetylhydrolase levels, it is likely that the liver can play an important role in regulating levels of this enzyme in serum.

1-Alkyl-2-acetylglycerophosphocholine Esterase↗

PubMed1988

Histopathology of tumour associated sarcoid-like stromal reaction in breast cancer. An analysis of 5 cases with immunohistochemical investigations.

In 5 cases of invasive ductal and lobular carcinoma of the breast multiple epithelioid and giant cell containing granulomas were detected, localized mainly in circumferential regions, but also in the center of the carcinomas. These granulomas were interpreted as sarcoid-like stromal reactions, occurring as sarcoid-like lesions in uni- and bilateral primaries, in a recurrent tumour, and also in axillary lymph nodes. Histopathologically, these granulomas were not quite uniform, some of them corresponding to typical sarcoidosis, others showing marked proliferations of epithelioid or giant cells or containing fibrinoid exudate or necroses. The granulomas were surrounded by dense infiltrates of mononuclear cells. Tuberculosis and mycosis was excluded. There were no hints of generalized sarcoidosis. Pathogenetically, these are reactions in the tumour stroma of varying intensity, and are not caused by necroses of the tumour tissue nor by microbial infections. Such tumour-associated sarcoid-like stroma reactions are interpreted as a T-cell mediated immune response to an antigen expression of the carcinoma acting as the local trigger; in 2 cases they were connected with sarcoid-like lesions of the axillary lymph nodes. Their occurrence in bilateral carcinoma of the breast points to an immunological disposition for this special kind of host-versus-tumour response. The intensity of these changes in a recurrent tumour reflects an immunological hypersensitivity reaction. The pathogenetic and differential diagnostic aspects of epithelioid granulomas of the female breast in chronic granulomatous mastitis, panniculitis, foreign body reaction, rare infections, and in therapeutically induced sarcoidosis are described and discussed.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hetrazepine PAF antagonists.

Hetrazepines such as WEB-2086 or WEB-2170 are potent, specific, competitive PAF antagonists binding at the same site as the PAF molecule. Despite their structural similarity to known hypnotic drugs they lack hypnotic actions. They almost certainly bind not only cell-surface but also intracellular PAF receptors, which may explain their activity in disease models in which adherence of neutrophils or other cell types to the vascular endothelium plays a role.

Animals↗