PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P Fontan

Publications and source records attributed to P Fontan.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Contribution of novel choline-binding proteins to adherence, colonization and immunogenicity of Streptococcus pneumoniae.

The surface of Streptococcus pneumoniae is decorated with a family of choline-binding proteins (CBPs) that are non-covalently bound to the phosphorylcholine of the teichoic acid. Two examples (PspA, a protective antigen, and LytA, the major autolysin) have been well characterized. We identified additional CPBs and characterized a new CBP, CbpA, as an adhesin and a determinant of virulence. Using choline immobilized on a solid matrix, a mixture of proteins from a pspA-deficient strain of pneumococcus was eluted in a choline-dependent fashion. Antisera to these proteins passively protected mice challenged in the peritoneum with a lethal dose of pneumococci. The predominant component of this mixture, CbpA, is a 75-kDa surface-exposed protein that reacts with human convalescent antisera. The deduced sequence from the corresponding gene showed a chimeric architecture with a unique N-terminal region and a C-terminal domain consisting of 10 repeated choline-binding domains nearly identical to PspA. A cbpA-deficient mutant showed a >50% reduction in adherence to cytokine-activated human cells and failed to bind to immobilized sialic acid or lacto-N-neotetraose, known pneumococcal ligands on eukaryotic cells. Carriage of this mutant in an animal model of nasopharyngeal colonization was reduced 100-fold. There was no difference between the parent strain and this mutant in an intraperitoneal model of sepsis. These data for CbpA extend the important functions of the CBP family to bacterial adherence and identify a pneumococcal vaccine candidate.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

[Antitumor concomitant immunity: a possible metastasis control mechanism].

Concomitant immunity (CI) is defined as the lack or retardation or proliferation of a secondary tumor implant at a distant site; it has been given an immunological interpretation. Our experiments were designed to investigate CI in association with spontaneous tumors with or without metastases. In BALB/c mice, various syngeneic tumors, of undetectable immunogenicity, induced CI, preventing the development of a secondary implant of the same and occasionally of another tumor, indicating some degree of nonspecificity. This CI could also be observed in young and adult nude mice with high and low NK level, and in those treated with silica, discarding and participation of T lymphocytes, NK cells and macrophages, respectively. The lack of development of the secondary implant was not due to tumor rejection--contrarily to observations in allogeneic systems with immunogenic tumor--but to cytostasis. This "dormant tumor" state is observed together with the absence of host cell infiltration. The creation of a local inflammatory reaction abrogated CI, resulting in rapid tumor growth. On the other hand, an inflammatory reaction created by a foreign body inhibited the development of a tumor implant in the contralateral flank and tumor growth could be inhibited by piroxicam; furthermore, the tumor itself diminished the inflammatory reaction created by a foreign body at a distant site. Considering metastases as natural secondary implants, two mammary adenocarcinomas with a common origin were compared, one with 0 and the other with 100% metastatic incidence. The non-metastatic tumor induced stronger and earlier CI against both tumors and prevented the development of experimental and spontaneous metastases; moreover; its surgical extirpation led to the appearance of lung metastases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Evidence that biosynthesis of platelet-activating factor (paf-acether) by human neutrophils occurs in an intracellular membrane.

Human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) were incubated in the absence or presence of the calcium ionophore A23187 (6 microM) for 10 min at 37 degrees C. They were then lysed by nitrogen cavitation and fractionated using Percoll gradients. Three major fractions of increasing density corresponding to plasma membrane, intracellular membranes and secretory granules were detected using [3H]concanavalin A, NADH-dehydrogenase and beta-D-glucuronidase as respective markers. In both cases, the acetyltransferase activity responsible for biosynthesis of paf-acether (platelet-activating factor of 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) was detected in the intermediary fraction, the enzyme activity being increased 3-4-fold in stimulated cells. From the comparison with the distribution of various markers, it is concluded that in human PMN the final step of paf-acether assembly occurs in an intracellular membrane, possibly the endoplasmic reticulum.

Acetyltransferases↗
PubMed1985

A rapid isolation procedure of plasma membranes from human neutrophils using self-generating Percoll gradients. Importance of pH in avoiding contamination by intracellular membranes.

In this study we report an overall procedure for the isolation of both human polymorphonuclear neutrophils and their plasma membrane, by means of self-generating Percoll gradients. After efficient purification (40% yield), neutrophils were lysed by nitrogen cavitation and cellular structures quickly isolated in a one-step procedure. Plasma membrane recovery was monitored by [3H]concanavalin A and 5'-nucleotidase (EC 3.1.3.5) activity. We showed the latter activity is indeed present in human neutrophils. The procedure resulted in a good yield of plasma membrane, since 45% and 55% of total 5'-nucleotidase and [3H]concanavalin A activity, respectively, were recovered within two gradient fractions. Depending on the final pH of the Percoll gradient medium, endoplasmic reticulum markers contaminated either the plasma membrane or the granule fractions. At pH 9.05, NADH-ferricyanide reductase activity clearly separated from plasma membrane markers and displayed the same profile as CDPcholine:diacylglycerolcholine phosphotransferase (EC 2.7.8.2), a typical enzyme of endoplasmic reticulum. These results emphasize the need for strict monitoring of the pH of the gradient medium in subcellular fractionation of neutrophils.

5'-Nucleotidase↗
PubMed1985

[Changes in perimetric defects in chronic open-angle glaucoma studied by automated perimetry (Octopus)].

The Octopus automatic perimeter was used to determine changes in visual field of 90 patients with chronic open angle glaucoma. Mean sensitivity value calculated from 62 of the 73 points of the apparatus program 33 - after elimination of those 11 points corresponding to Mariottes's zone and the central 10 degrees - provides an effective paracentral visual field monitoring numerical parameter. The authors named the parameter "global value". Statistical analysis of "global value" variations between two successive examinations showed: significant improvement between the first and the second tests; disappearance of the phenomenon between two further successive tests. The reasons for this pseudo-improvement remain unclear: perhaps the patients experience gained from the precious tests plays a part in the phenomenon. This should in any case be taken into account when assessing possible aggravation between two tests. Analysis of results suggests that, as a standard evaluation method, any "global value" degradation of the order of 1 db between the first two tests and 3 db between two successive tests performed after the second one is significant of a visual field degradation with a 1% range of error.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1977

[Variations in hemostasis in the infant under deep hypothermia].

Effects on hemostasis of deep hypothermia on infant has been studied on 29 infants operated upon for a cardiopathy under deep hypothermia. Results of this study show a diminution of the coagulation factors rate, an augmentation of the fibrinolytic activity and an unforeseable variability of the residual heparin leading in all cases to a complement of the heparin neutralization by Protamine.

Cardiac Surgical Procedures↗