Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Poston.
We report two elderly patients who each had a patent foramen ovale (PFO) and were considered to have had paradoxical emboli. In one patient the PFO was detected by contrast two-dimensional echocardiography, whereas in the other it was demonstrated at post-mortem examination. This is an unusual but treatable condition, particularly difficult to diagnose in older people and probably occurring more frequently than is generally suspected.
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Bronchial inflammation is a characteristic of asthma, but, although postmortem and rare bronchoscopic studies had been performed, it is only after 1980 that many experiments were done. Electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry and molecular biology have enhanced our knowledge. As bronchial biopsies and bronchoalveolar lavage present drawbacks, it is favorable to combine both to obtain the best insights into inflammation. The epithelium is rarely intact in asthmatic patients, the cells being both 'fragile' and activated. Eosinophil inflammation is highly important and likely involved in the damage of the epithelium and submucosa. Airway macrophages and monocytes are present in greater amounts and are activated in the bronchi, and they are certainly involved in the pathogenesis of asthma. Mast cells are activated and some emphasis has been put on lymphocytes. Therefore, asthma appears to be a desquamative bronchitis with mixed cell infiltrate.
Activated lymphocytes derived from tumor biopsies are very important as a source of biotherapy for cancer. The growth of lymphocytes requires periodic stimulation with specific antigen. In the case of tumor-derived lymphocytes, tumor cells in the biopsy can serve this function. This stimulation provides proliferative potential as well as functional specificity. Often, however, required numbers of viable tumor cells are not available for antigen dosing. In the present study, anti-CD3 antibody was used as a substitute for specific antigen in the generation of effector cells for biotherapy. Periodic stimulation of tumor-derived activated cells (TDAC) using anti-CD3 antibody immobilized on plastic tissue culture plates or PL-732 plastic bags resulted in continued proliferation of the TDAC. In addition, maintenance of cytotoxic activity was observed. In this study, we expanded lymphocytes from 15 tumor biopsies (five different tumor types) to therapeutic doses (greater than 5.0 X 10(10) TDAC). The average time for expansion was 70 days. Our studies showed upregulation of CD25 expression by 18 h. Proliferation of the TDAC occurred when cultures were supplemented with interleukin-2 (IL-2). The characteristics of anti-CD3 antibody-stimulated TDAC were similar to those reported before by our group using tumor biopsy for stimulation. This study provides evidence for the practical usefulness of anti-CD3 antibody stimulation of lymphocytes used in the biotherapy of cancer.