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H The

Publications and source records attributed to H The.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Pulmonary diffusion abnormalities in relation to cytomegalovirus antigenemia and cytomegalic endothelial cells in blood.

The pathophysiology of HCMV infection may involve many different organs including the lungs. In this study we investigated HCMV antigenemia levels and cytomegalic endothelial cells (CEC) in blood in relation to the pulmonary diffusion capacity. Patients with high HCMV antigenemia (> or = 100 pp65+ PMNs/50.000) (n = 8) showed a more extensive decrease in the membrane factor (Dm) than patients with lower levels of HCMV antigenemia (n = 7). The decline of the diffusion capacity of the alveolar capillary membrane (KCOc) and of the pulmonary capillary volume (Vcap) was the same in both groups. Four out of nine patients had CEC in the range of 0.22 CEC/ml to 30.26 CEC/ml. All the HCMV patients showed a decreased KCOc together with a decrease of Dm and Vcap but no difference was observed between patients with and without CEC. We conclude that a higher viral load is associated with a more extensive decrease in the membrane factor and therefore with more subclinical pneumonitis. No relation was observed between CEC and pulmonary dysfunction. Therefore, we postulate that CEC levels are related indirectly to subclinical pneumonitis mediated via the viral load.

Adult↗

Occurrence of autoantibodies to human leucocyte elastase in Wegener's granulomatosis and other inflammatory disorders.

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) constitute a new class of autoantibodies that seem to recognise myeloid lysosomal enzymes. The occurrence of ANCAs with specificity for human leucocyte elastase (HLE) was assessed in serum samples that were routinely submitted for ANCA determination. During a study period of more than six years anti-HLE was found in only six out of 1102 serum samples that produced a perinuclear or an atypical cytoplasmic staining pattern on ethanol fixed granulocytes. These six serum samples were from four patients with a clinical diagnosis of Wegener's granulomatosis but without a definite histological diagnosis, one patient with systemic vasculitis, and one patient with Cogan's syndrome. To further evaluate the prevalence of anti-HLE we tested 315 serum samples from patients with different forms of vasculitis and related disorders. Anti-HLE was detected in two patients only. Thus autoantibodies to HLE are rarely found in serum samples from patients with vasculitic or related disorders.

Aged↗

Clinical characterization of non-small-cell lung cancer tumors showing neuroendocrine differentiation features.

In most cases of small-cell lung carcinomas (SCLC) phenotypic features compatible with a neuroendocrine differentiation status can be identified by monoclonal (MOC) antibody-based immunohistological procedures. Similar features can be recognized only in a minority of non-SCLC tumors. During a period of 30 months, all diagnostic non-SCLC biopsies (141 cases) were prospectively analysed for the presence of markers indicative for neuroendocrine differentiation. In 31% of all cases, such a presence could be noticed. Neuroendocrine differentiation (50% to 100% positive-staining tumor cells) was recognized more frequently in adenocarcinoma when compared to large-cell and squamous-cell carcinoma (chi 2 = 9.31, 2 degrees of freedom, P less than 0.01). To investigate whether the clinical behavior of these "neuroendocrine" non-SCLC cases mimics SCLC, a multivariate analysis for prognostic factors was performed. Among other prognostic factors, biopsies containing more than 50% positive-staining tumor cells with the MOC antibody-1 (MOC-1) were recognized as negative prognostic factors.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Simultaneous standard light microscopy and immunohistology on bronchoscopically procured lung cancer specimens.

A method is described which enables the routine assessment of in situ phenotypic differences in lung cancer specimens. In this method, bronchoscopically procured biopsies are mildly fixated and split into two parts. One part is processed according to standard histological procedures, ensuring optimal morphology for normal pathological evaluation of the case. The other part is used for monoclonal antibody based immunohistology. The reactivity of a panel of monoclonal antibodies directed against different lung cancer and human leucocyte associated antigens has been assessed. It is shown that antigens that are normally destroyed during routine fixation and embedding technology are still reactive in the procedure. It is concluded that the procedure enables a study of monoclonal antibody defined phenotypic features, without interfering with the normal histopathological evaluation of the case.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Small cell lung cancer.

It can be stated that, depending on the type of lung cancer, the best opportunity for curative treatment is in the early stage of disease, when cancer is limited to the lung and surgical intervention can be indicated. Especially in the case of SCLC, the number of patients presenting with such a limited disease is very low. In SCLC, chemo- and/or radiotherapy can induce initial good responses, which, although not curative in most cases, can elongate life for an average of 10 months. Although changes and refinements in treatment are continuously introduced, further progresses in the outcome have not achieved for the last decennium. Therefore, more fundamental research is needed to indicate new treatment avenues. A number of findings appear promising in this field. Firstly, the development of tissue culture techniques has enabled a better study of the biological properties of both SCLC and non-SCLC. Secondly, the development of monoclonal antibodies has refined the possibilities to type lung cancer. Particularly if monoclonal antibodies could be identified which occurrence turns out to be relevant to prognosis, immunohistopathology could become an important additional tool for the assessment of a pathological diagnosis in lung cancer. In addition, monoclonal antibodies which are specific for lung cancer could be used for an immunotherapeutical approach in the near future. Such a treatment might complement currently available treatment modalities.

Carcinoma, Small Cell↗

Heterogeneity of immune defects in three children with a chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection.

Three children, all girls, showed long-lasting clinical and serologic evidence of chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Extremely high serum titers of IgG- and IgA-type VCA antibodies and EA antibodies were present, whereas EBNA antibody titers were in the range of those found in seropositive individuals. All three patients repeatedly showed the presence of nonspecific pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-activatable suppressor cells in the peripheral blood. The analysis of EBV-specific cytotoxic T cells showed that one patient exhibited normal cytotoxicity, whereas a second patient demonstrated no EBV-specific cytotoxicity together with unusually high levels of virus-infected B cells in the blood and lymph node. The third patient repeatedly showed refractoriness of the circulating B cells to EBV infection, probably on the basis of some developmental defect. It was concluded that each patient has his or her own peculiar defect in the virus-host balance, indicating that heterogeneity may underlie the syndrome of chronic active EBV infection in humans.

Adolescent↗