Safety considerations of recombinant protein therapy: introductory comments.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T J Hayes.
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N4-Trimethoxybenzoyl-5'-deoxy-5-fluorocytidine (Ro 09-1390) and 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5'-DFUR) are 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) derivatives developed as anti-tumor pharmaceuticals. To evaluate immunotoxicities of these compounds, BDF1 mice were administered vehicle, 300-2700 mg (0.68-6.14 mmol)/kg/day of Ro 09-1390, or 100-900 mg (0.41-3.66 mmol)/kg/day of 5'-DFUR for 1 to 7 days, and effects on cellularity in lymphoid organs were assessed by immunohistochemistry as well as general toxicologic parameters. To distinguish compound-specific direct action from nonspecific indirect action caused by dietary reduction, dietary restriction groups were also included as control groups. Final body weight, thymus weight, bone marrow cell number (BMC), and leukocyte number were reduced with high dose of both compounds. Reduction of BMC in groups administered with Ro 09-1390 or 5'-DFUR was more severe than in dietary restriction groups given comparative amount of diet with compound-administered groups. Diffuse thymic cortical hypoplasia was observed in the highest dose of both compounds and more apparent in the Ro 09-1390 than in the 5'-DFUR. Focal nodular thymocyte hyperplasia was observed especially in the lower dose of 5'-DFUR. The results indicate that immunotoxic profiles of Ro 09-1390 and 5'-DFUR are very similar and characterized primarily by myelotoxicity and Ro 09-1390 is approximately two-times less toxic than 5'-DFUR on a molar basis in BDF1 mice.
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This presentation focuses on the history and status of the preclinical toxicologic assessment of recombinant proteins. Cytokines and growth factors are used as examples. There has been an evolution of thought over the past dozen years on the testing of these substances that has ranged from their being considered nontoxic, human-specific proteins for which no predictive testing could be done in animals, to the present view that they can be toxic, relevant testing may be possible in animals, and assessment approaches should be science-based and case-by-case. The challenge of appropriate testing of recombinant proteins has caused toxicologists in both industry and in regulatory authorities to reconsider not only testing procedures but the purpose of preclinical assessment. The form of regulatory guidelines (guidance vs. inflexible testing protocols) has been questioned, and the need for interaction between scientists in industry and regulatory agencies has been strengthened. This process has advanced the science of toxicology.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) has received formal research attention only within the last eight years. Diagnostic criteria for SAD include many characteristics typical of depression: sadness, low self-esteem, lack of energy, social withdrawal, and suicide ideation, and features of atypical depression: carbohydrate craving, overeating, weight gain, and hypersomnia. Differential diagnosis of the disorder depends on an onset in fall/winter and remission in spring/summer. It was hypothesized that spinal cord injury (SCI) patients would have a higher incidence of the disorder in the northern latitudes because of decreased outdoor activities in winter and because of such light-depriving winter survival tactics as installing opaque plastic for storm windows. SCI patient responded to a postal survey which included Rosenthal's Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results showed a substantially higher rate of SAD among SCI patients than in the normative sample.
Many corporations are reluctant to offer health promotion programs for their employees because there is no concrete evidence that the financial benefits will be greater than the capital outlays necessary for implementation and operation. This presents a major problem when marketing health promotion programs. The problems with cost/benefit analysis in the health promotion field are first identified. Then, the weaknesses in the health promotion research are outlined. Finally, marketing philosophy and strategies which avert these problems are presented. Health promotion programs offered at the worksite are increasing in number (Forouzesh and Ratzker, 1985). Much of this growth is a response on the part of corporations to the causes of death in the United States and the increases in health care costs. In 1987 diseases of the heart and blood vessels were the leading cause of death in the U.S. with an estimated 976,706 deaths (American Heart Association, 1989). This figure is more than twice the second leading cause of death, cancer. It was also determined that more than one-fourth of the American population suffered from some form of cardiovascular disease. However, death is not the only expense to society. It was estimated that cardiovascular disease cost $94.5 billion in 1990 (American Heart Association, 1989). U.S. corporations directly or indirectly were responsible for paying much of this cost. Therefore, corporations are searching for solutions to these problems. Health promotion programs offered at the worksite are one potential approach to decrease health care costs and deaths due to cardiovascular disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Interleukin (IL)-1 is an early mediator of host response to inflammation, although its contribution to individual components of the acute phase reaction is still unclear. To evaluate how the hemodynamic, metabolic, and hormonal responses to sublethal endotoxemia compare with IL-1 administration, baboons received intravenously either lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or 0.1, 10, or 100 micrograms/kg IL-1 alpha. LPS induced an early tachycardia and a fall in mean arterial pressure, as well as lacticacidemia and hypoaminoacidemia. Similar hemodynamic and metabolic changes were seen with 10 or 100 micrograms/kg of IL-1 alpha. An increase in adrenocorticotropic hormone and fall in serum iron were induced by IL-1 alpha but not by LPS. Plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) was not measurable after IL-1 alpha administration, whereas LPS induced a monophasic TNF-alpha response. IL-6 levels were significantly greater after LPS than IL-1 alpha administration. Histopathological lesions, similar in LPS- and 100 micrograms/kg IL-1 alpha-treated groups, were present only in the adrenal cortex. We conclude that many, but not all, of the effects of sublethal endotoxemia can be replicated by IL-1 alpha administration, and these responses are dose dependent.
Shifting environmental pressures have moved healthcare organizations to look to new products and services as a means of survival. One new product offering that has developed in many hospitals is the senior care program. Unfortunately, many of the senior care programs developed across the nation have not been successful. The authors have described a senior care program that is research based and physician centered. The benefits of which include physician loyalty to the hospital, a managed referral network and the ability to measure the impact of the senior care program on the bottom line.
Poor economic conditions in Vietnam have encouraged large numbers of people seeking a better life in the West to join the flow of political refugees leaving the country as "boat people". We report the events surrounding one such group of people who were rescued from the South China Sea by the Outback 88 Task Group.
Human rIL-1 alpha was shown to be a potent stimulus of granulopoiesis in mice that have been myelosuppressed with cyclophosphamide. Stimulation of granulopoiesis was demonstrated in IL-1-treated mice by an accelerated recovery of granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells, bone marrow and splenic granulocytic hyperplasia, and a profound granulocytosis. Granulopoiesis was stimulated by IL-1 in a dose-dependent manner at doses ranging from 0.5 to 50 micrograms/kg. Maximal increases in granulocytes were observed after 4 days of IL-1 treatment. Mice treated with IL-1 also exhibited increased splenic megakaryopoiesis with a resultant increase in the number of peripheral blood platelets. In contrast to these positive effects on hemopoiesis, bone marrow, but not splenic, erythropoiesis was depressed in IL-1-treated mice. IL-1 effects were observed in mice treated with a wide dose range (50 to 300 mg/kg) of cyclophosphamide, with optimal effects occurring at a dose of 200 mg/kg. The doses of IL-1 leading to enhanced granulopoiesis caused only minor and transient changes in selected clinical chemistry parameters and caused no toxicities that were evident by histologic examination of tissues. The stimulation of granulopoiesis in the absence of overt toxicity suggests that IL-1 may be useful clinically to enhance the recovery of granulocytes in myelosuppressed patients.
A 53-year-old woman initially had lichen planus primarily on her extremities. Approximately 1 year later, lesions consistent with erythema dyschromicum perstans were observed. Both diseases cleared with griseofulvin therapy but returned after discontinuation of the drug. Retreatment with griseofulvin again resulted in clearing.
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The clinical, laboratory, and pathologic features of a syndrome in dogs characterized by intermittent pain, fever, neutrophilia, and necrotizing arteritis are described to alert others involved in toxicity testing to the existence of this disorder. It is considered that this idiopathic syndrome is a latent condition, the expression of which can be precipitated in predisposed dogs by experimental treatment, and thus, its occurrence could complicate interpretation of toxicity studies. We have observed the disorder in 14 beagle dogs. The syndrome is rare and most cases for study were supplied by the breeder. Typical clinical signs observed included evidence of pain when the mouth was opened, grunting when lifted, and standing with an arched back and lowered head. Appetite was usually reduced. Body temperature was elevated (e.g., 104-106 degrees F). There was progressive, bilateral atrophy of temporal and cervical musculature. Such signs have been observed to persist unremittingly or, more commonly, with periods of expression and remission. Neutrophilic leukocytosis and thrombocytosis were present. Hemoglobin and hematocrit were usually slightly decreased. Serum total protein was usually normal but albumin was reduced and alpha-2 globulins were markedly increased. Rheumatoid factor was elevated in several dogs. Arteritis was observed histologically and was characterized by necrosis, intimal proliferation, neutrophil and mononuclear cell infiltration in the media and periarterial tissues, and hemorrhage. Amyloidosis was observed in several dogs. The cause of this disorder is unknown. Knowledge of the distinct features of this syndrome should obviate complication of interpretation of results in toxicity studies and hopefully will lead to studies of this syndrome to provide an understanding of its etiopathogenesis.
To characterize the subacute toxicologic and pathologic effects of human recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) in rats, rIL-2 was administered to rats at doses ranging from 3.0 to 150 X 10(6) units/kg/day for 14 to 16 days, in once or twice daily dosing regimens by intravenous or intraperitoneal dosing routes. The hematologic, clinical chemical, gross pathologic and histopathologic findings were determined. Rats given rIL-2 had dose- and regimen-related incidences of hemolytic anemia, lymphocytosis, neutrophilia, eosinophilia, thrombocytopenia, increased hepatic transaminases, hyperbilirubinemia, hypoalbuminemia, ascites and pleural effusions, and prerenal azotemia. Marked lymphoid infiltration of the liver and eye were associated with hepatocyte necrosis and retinal damage. Eosinophilic infiltration of the adrenal medulla was associated with medullary cell necrosis. Other histopathologic changes included infiltration of multiple tissues by eosinophils and/or lymphocytes, lymphoid hyperplasia and splenic extramedullary erythropoiesis and eosinopoiesis. Hematologic, clinical chemistry, and histopathologic changes were of markedly greater severity in rats receiving rIL-2 twice daily as compared with those receiving the same total dose of rIL-2 once daily. Mortality in severely affected rats was secondary to severe anemia and/or hepatic damage. The results of these studies demonstrate that the major pathologic changes associated with rIL-2 administration in rats are characterized by marked tissue infiltration with lymphocytes and eosinophils. Many of the adverse effects of rIL-2 administration to rats are similar to those reported in humans receiving rIL-2 immunotherapy and the results confirm that the rat is an appropriate species in which to study selected aspects of rIL-2 toxicity.
Studies were performed to characterize the toxic effects of human rIL-2 in mice and to examine the mechanism of toxicity. Intraperitoneal administration of rIL-2 at doses greater than or equal to 2 X 10(6) U/kg twice each day for greater than or equal to 4 days led to toxicity in several strains of mice. The toxic effects of rIL-2 included the vascular leak syndrome (manifested by pulmonary edema, pleural effusions, and ascites), elevated hepatic transaminases, hyperbilirubinemia, hypoalbuminemia, pre-renal azotemia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, mild eosinophilia, and death. Marked lymphoid cell infiltration of pulmonary and hepatic vasculature was present in mice suffering from rIL-2 toxicity, and the pleural and ascitic fluids also contained high numbers of mononuclear cells. Mononuclear cells isolated from the pleural fluids and livers of these mice were 74 to 98% Thy-1+, 55 to 83% asialo-GM1+, 29 to 45% Lyt-2+, and less than 10% L3T4+. These cells possessed potent lymphokine-activated killer (LAK)-like activity in that their ability to lyse cells of the NK-resistant P815 mastocytoma line was 10- to 100-fold higher on a per cell basis than splenocytes from the same animals. A correlation was found between the dose level, duration, and frequency of dosing with rIL-2 required to induce pleural effusions and hepatotoxicity and the dosage regimens required to produce the LAK-like cells in the pleural cavities and livers, respectively, of rIL-2-treated mice. Moreover, treatment of mice with anti-asialo-GM1 (anti-ASGM-1) antiserum in vivo at the same time they were receiving toxic doses of rIL-2 abolished or greatly reduced the severity of the vascular leak syndrome and hepatotoxicity and significantly prolonged the survival of the mice. Administration of anti-ASGM-1 to mice receiving toxic doses of rIL-2 resulted in a marked reduction in the LAK-like cytolytic activity of their pleural and liver lymphoid cells and a corresponding reduction in the percentage of ASGM-1+ cells in pulmonary and hepatic lymphoid infiltrates. Nevertheless, the overall extent of pulmonary and hepatic lymphoid infiltration, as well as other consequences of rIL-2 administration, including splenomegaly, hypoalbuminemia, eosinophilia, and thrombocytopenia, were not diminished as a result of anti-ASGM-1 treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
After demonstrating antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), two hundred patients were interviewed and given a complete cutaneous and mucous membrane examination. By means of the Walter Reed Staging Classification System for HIV infection, 155 patients were classified as having Walter Reed stage 1A-2A (WR1A-WR2A) infection. The prevalence of seborrheic dermatitis in this group was 36%. There were no other significant cutaneous findings in the WR1A-WR2A patient population.
Human recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) was administered to normal and tumor-bearing BDF mice for 1 to 3 weeks, and the hematologic, clinical chemistry, gross and histopathologic findings were evaluated. Vascular leak syndrome (pulmonary edema, pleural effusion, ascites), hepatocyte necrosis, elevated hepatic serum transaminases, hypoalbuminemia, tissue and peripheral eosinophilia, thrombocytopenia, and prerenal azotemia were the detrimental effects of rIL-2 treatment. Vascular leak syndrome and hepatocyte necrosis were causally associated with vascular-oriented lymphocytic infiltration of pulmonary and hepatic parenchyma. Pleural effusions contained up to 99,000 cells/mm3, most of which were large granular lymphocytes. Antiserum to the glycolipid asialo GM1 (ganglio-n-tetrosylceramide), given simultaneously with rIL-2, prevented overt toxicity of rIL-2 (mortality, vascular leak syndrome, and hepatic damage) and substantially reduced infiltration of pulmonary and hepatic vasculature by asialo GM1+ lymphocytes. Asialo GM1 antiserum did not inhibit lymphoid hyperplasia, tissue infiltration by Lyt 2+ lymphocytes, tissue and peripheral eosinophilia, or thrombocytopenia in rIL-2 treated mice. Additionally, asialo GM1 antisera prevented toxicity, but not anti-tumor efficacy, of high dose rIL-2 therapy in BDF mice bearing the colon 38 adenocarcinoma. These results suggest that, in BDF mice and with this tumor model, vascular leak syndrome and hepatocyte necrosis are mediated by an endogenous subset of rIL-2-stimulated lymphocytes which are asialo GM positive, that mechanisms of toxicity and efficacy associated with high dose rIL-2 therapy are not necessarily the same, and that these mechanisms can be therapeutically separated.