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Biomedical subjects

M Bestagno

Publications and source records attributed to M Bestagno.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction by indium-111 antimyosin antibodies and correlation with the traditional techniques for the evaluation of extent and localization.

This clinical study evaluated the accuracy of planar myocardial scintigraphy with antimyosin monoclonal antibodies radiolabeled with indium-111 (AMA-Fab) in the detection and localization of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Fifty-seven patients admitted for suspected AMI were studied; 17 patients underwent thrombolytic therapy with intravenous streptokinase and 11 had clinical signs of reperfusion; 9 had had a previous myocardial infarction. Fifty of 57 patients were discharged from the coronary care unit with a confirmed diagnosis of AMI. The AMA-Fab study results were positive for AMI in 49 patients (98%) and negative in 1 (2%). Among the 7 patients without AMI, 5 had unstable angina, 1 had Prinzmetal's variant angina and 1 had acute pancreatitis. AMA-Fab results were negative in 6 of 7 patients (85%) and positive in 1 (15%). Therefore, the sensitivity and specificity of AMA-Fab scintigraphy were 0.98 and 0.85, respectively. To assess accuracy in defining the extent and location of AMI, AMA-Fab results were compared with those of the electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, technetium-99m pyrophosphate myocardial scintigraphy and coronary angiography and left ventriculography. AMA-Fab scintigraphy showed a good concordance with the traditional techniques in the topographic definition of the infarcted regions. No uptake of AMA-Fab was seen in the regions of previous old infarcts. Ten healthy volunteers also underwent AMA-Fab scintigraphy. No evidence of myocardial tracer uptake was noted in them. No adverse reactions or side effects were noted after injection of AMA-Fab in any patient. It is concluded that planar myocardial scintigraphy with AMA-Fab is a reliable method for AMI detection and location.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Antibodies to hnRNP core protein A1 in connective tissue diseases.

We investigated the specificity of circulating autoantibodies to a heterogeneous nuclear ribonuclear protein A1 (hnRNP A1), obtained by recombinant DNA technique, in different rheumatic diseases: systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), scleroderma, primary Sjogren's syndrome (SS), idiopathic Raynaud (IR), mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), and healthy donors. All sera were tested by ELISA on hnRNP A1 protein. Positive values were obtained in 22% SLE, 19% scleroderma, 10% IR, 40% (2/5) MCTD, 5% SS, and 50% RA patients. The majority of patients reacted with the aminoterminal part (UP1) of hnRNP A1; however, some RA patients reacted also with the carboxy-terminal part that shows partial homology with keratin. Therefore, hnRNP A1 (UP1) can be considered a target of antinuclear autoimmunity in various rheumatic disorders.

Autoantibodies↗
PubMed1989

New tracers for the imaging of the medullary thyroid carcinoma.

I-MIBG and 99Tcm(V)-DMSA have been recently proposed as scintigraphic markers of the medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Thirty two patients were examined with 131I- or 123I-MIBG and 26 of these were re-examined with 99Tcm(V)-DMSA (planar and SPECT). From our experience we can draw the following conclusions: (1) the scintigraphic attempt was useless in patients with normal levels of plasma calcitonin (CT): (2) in patients with high plasma CT levels, the sensitivity of the MIBG was better in familiar (3/3 true positive) than in sporadic disease (7/21 true positive; overall sensitivity = 42%); the 99Tcm(V)-DMSA was positive in 16/19 cases, (overall sensitivity = 84%) even in cases which had been false negative with MIBG (6 patients); (3) no false positive results were found; (4) the scan with 99Tcm(V)-DMSA is then suggested as the first imaging approach during the follow up in patients affected by MTC and still having high levels of plasma CT. The MIBG scan should be limited to the patients in whom the possible use of MIBG therapy has to be investigated.

3-Iodobenzylguanidine↗
PubMed1989

Autoantibodies to DNA topoisomerase II in cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis and connective tissue disease.

Sera from patients with autoimmune lung and connective tissue diseases were investigated for antibodies to topoisomerase II. Anti-topoisomerase II antibodies were detected by ELISA in 37% of sera from patients with cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis (CFA), in one (8%) case of sarcoidosis and in 31% of sera from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Sera from rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, progressive systemic sclerosis, Sjögren's syndrome and undifferentiated connective tissue disease were negative. CFA and sarcoidosis sera strongly reacted in immunoblotting with a 170 kD protein, also recognized by rabbit antiserum to recombinant topoisomerase II, while SLE sera presented a weak reaction. Pre-adsorption with dsDNA dramatically decreased the topoisomerase II binding in ELISA by the most positive SLE serum, but did not affect the binding by the most positive CFA serum, thus indicating that anti-topoisomerase II reactivity of SLE sera is probably due either to cross-reacting antibodies or, in part, to minor DNA contamination of our enzyme preparation. The determination of DNA topoisomerase II relaxation activity, performed after incubation with antibody-positive sera, showed that only CFA sera precipitate enzymatic activity. The finding that CFA presents antibodies to an enzyme essential to cell survival stresses the role of autoimmunity in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This may offer further insight into the cause of autoimmune disease and prove a valuable tool in the study of enzyme molecular biology.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Carboxyethyl gamma-aminobutyric acid, a polyamine derivative, improves the recovery of EBV-transformed lymphocytes.

A polyamine derivative, carboxyethyl - Aminobutyric Acid (CEGABA), induces the formation of a large number of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) transformed lymphocytes, when added to the culture medium immediately after EBV infection. However, CEGABA shows only a moderate effect on the stability of EBV-transformed cell lines over time, and does not affect the growth of stabilized cell lines. It is possible that CEGABA acts on cells other than EBV transformed lymphocytes (in fact, after EBV infection all types of mononuclear cells from the blood are present in the culture) and indirectly promotes the growth of EBV transformed lymphocytes.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1987

Improvements of Western blotting to detect monoclonal antibodies.

A comparison of the effects of different factors on the sensitivity of Western blotting technique to detect monoclonal antibodies is described. The major improvements were obtained by: A) renaturating the antigen in the gel before transferring it in carbonate buffer at pH 10 onto nitrocellulose and B) using alkaline-phosphatase-conjugated second antibody instead of peroxidase-conjugated second antibody.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Treatment of neuroblastoma with 131I-metaiodobenzylguanidine: the experience of an Italian Study Group.

Eight patients affected by neuroblastoma were treated with 18 courses of 131I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG). They all had been judged as "nonresponders" to conventional treatments. Six had stage IV disease: of these, five, with massive marrow involvement, had poor results, mainly because of marrow depression; one, whose marrow had been previously purged by chemotherapy, showed a decrease in blood cell counts but not to critical levels, thus allowing repeated treatments and some improvement. Two other cases had stage III disease, without marrow involvement. Both could receive repeated treatments without adverse effects on marrow and circulating blood cells; both could have surgical procedures when a significant neoplastic mass reduction had been induced by MIBG treatments. Almost all patients experienced reduction or disappearing of pain. Treatments were well tolerated.

3-Iodobenzylguanidine↗
PubMed1987

Diagnostic accuracy of rest-exercise first pass ventriculography with a fast single crystal gamma camera in detecting coronary artery disease. Study of a group of male subjects without previous myocardial infarction.

Rest and exercise radionuclide ventriculograms were performed in 61 non infarcted, male, patients who underwent cardiac catheterization for chest pain and in 16 normal control subjects. Studies were performed using the first pass method with a fast single crystal gamma camera, which allowed a count rate of 140 +/- 19 Kcounts/sec to be reached during left ventricular filling; the count integral on left ventricular area was 10.8 +/- 1.6 Kcounts and the maximum count/pixel 155 +/- 16. We analyzed sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of global ejection fraction (EF) and of the regional wall motion in identifying ventricular function abnormalities due to obstructive coronary artery disease. The regional wall motion was evaluated with four functional images: regional ejection fraction (REF), amplitude (A) and phase (PH) from Fourier analysis and systolic transit times (TT). Sensitivity was near 90% for EF, REF, A and TT, while PH was less sensitive (80%); all functional images were more specific (nearly 90%) than EF (80%). Both sensitivity and specificity were lower for the exercise EKG (59% and 63%, respectively) in this patient group. Significant differences between single vessel and multiple vessel disease were also observed either for the EF increase/decrease (-1.34 +/- 7.4 and -7.82 +/- 9.96; P less than 0.05) or for the number of segments which developed wall motion abnormalities during exercise (1.22 +/- 0.73 and 2.15 +/- 1.04; P less than 0.02). In conclusion, with our method, a fast single crystal gamma camera is suitable for obtaining optimal first pass radionuclide ventriculograms with a count density sufficient either for global or regional left ventricular function evaluation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Autoantibodies to purified nuclear proteins related to DNA metabolism during ageing and in SLE patients.

In this study the specificity of circulating autoantibodies in ANA+ aged donors, ANA- donors and SLE patients was investigated by immunoblotting on total nuclear proteins and by ELISA on purified nuclear proteins, possibly related to DNA metabolism, such as DNA polymerase alpha, DNA-dependent ATPase, DNA Topoisomerase I, ssDBP, hnRNP, HMG and histones. Immunoblotting showed that sera from ANA+ aged donors present fewer antibodies to nuclear proteins, especially to those between 21,000 and 45,000, molecular weight (MW), than sera from SLE patients. When the specificity of antisera was further studied on purified nuclear proteins, it was found that the majority of sera from SLE patients react with most of the proteins tested, whereas sera from ANA+ aged donors mainly react with DNA polymerase alpha, DNA-dependent ATPase, DNA Topoisomerase I and histones. In addition, sera from a few ANA- donors also reacted with certain purified nuclear proteins in a statistically significant age-related manner.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Multicenter study of immunoscintigraphy with radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies in patients with melanoma.

A multicenter study was performed to analyze the efficacy of 99mTc- and 111In-labeled F(ab')2 fragments of monoclonal antibody (MoAb) 225.28S (reactive with a high molecular weight melanoma associated antigen) to radioimage malignant lesions in patients with melanoma. A total of 254 melanoma patients, carrying 412 documented melanoma lesions, were studied in 10 nuclear medicine departments. A total of 377 lesions were visualized in 206 patients; in particular (a) 250 of 412 known lesions were visualized in 159 of 191 patients known to carry melanoma lesions; (b) 95 occult lesions were visualized in 61 patients of the same group; and (c) 32 lesions were visualized in 15 of 63 patients without diagnosed lesions. The melanomic nature of 101 of 127 radioimaged occult lesions was confirmed by clinical criteria and/or by additional laboratory investigations. These results indicate that immunoscintigraphy with radiolabeled F(ab')2 fragments of MoAb 225.28S can provide clinically useful information. Analysis of the variables influencing the outcome of immunoscintigraphy with 99mTc- and 111In-labeled F(ab')2 fragments of MoAb 225.28S confirmed the role of size, anatomic site, and level of high molecular weight melanoma associated antigen in melanoma lesions. Such analysis also showed, for the first time, the influence (a) of the isotope used to radiolabel the antibody fragments and (b) of the clinical stage of the patients. The present study has shown good agreement in the results obtained by the 10 nuclear medicine departments, suggesting that immunoscintigraphy with radiolabeled F(ab')2 fragments of MoAb 225.28S is a reliable procedure.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1984

Thiocyanates and iodine in endemic goiter in Italy.

Urinary iodine (I) and serum and urinary thiocyanates (SCN-) were determined in sample groups from 12 areas of endemic goiter in Italy. The mean urinary I level of 637 subjects with thyroid 0 was 67 +/- 31 (mean +/- SD) microgram/liter, that of 648 with goiter 54 +/- 29 micrograms/liter. Mean serum and urinary SCN- were 2.44 +/- 1.36 mg/liter and 2.58 +/- 1.36 mg/liter in 887 and 1531 subjects, respectively. The thiocyanates data enabled a distinction to be drawn between two groups (populations). Population I included 73% of the adults and 92% of the school-children (6-16 yr). Its thiocyanate values were logarithmically spread around means of 1.24 +/- 0.6 mg/liter (serum) and 1.24 +/- 0.57 mg/liter (urine), whereas those of population II were widely dispersed around means of 6.1 +/- 3.0 mg/liter and 8.08 +/- 5.5 mg/liter respectively. The boundary between the two populations was set at 3 mg/liter urine SCN-. This distinction was substantiated by the fact that 90% of those in population II smoked 10 or more cigarettes a day, whereas population I comprised occasionally smokers only. It is believed that only the values in population I can be regarded as representative of thiocyanates either endogenous or due to dietary dietary intake: these values never differed more than 60% regardless of the areas, seasons, or dietary habits. As urinary SCN- levels rose, there was also an increase in urinary iodine excretion within certain limits. This, however, did not interfere with thyroid secretion. The urinary I/SCN- ratio was lower in subjects with goiter. This was because their iodine levels were lower, whereas SCN- values were much the same in subjects with and without goiter. We have found no correlation between thiocyanate itself and goiter.

Adolescent↗