Objective. Early diagnosis of Takayasu arteritis in the acute stage (prepulseless stage) is extremely difficult. Identification of a useful approach to detecting the initial changes of arteritis is therefore desirable.Methods. Careful clinical examination of a young woman with persistent fever and dry cough revealed faintly audible bruits at the cervical, supraclavicular, and abdominal regions. Aortographic features suggested thickening of the wall of the descending thoracic aorta. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of this area was diagnostic.Results. MRI demonstrated involvement of the ascending aorta and right main pulmonary artery.

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Objective: Activity of integrin/ligand signaling leading to activation of small GTPases might regulate the efficiency of cell-to-cell spread of human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) through the virological synapse. We compared both activity of small GTPases and involvement of integrin/ligand signaling in extracellular release of HTLV-I virions between each three HTLV-I-infected T cell lines derived from HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) patients and from other origins as a control. Methods: Activity of small GTPases (Rho, Rac and Cdc42) was analyzed by pull-down assay with suppressive effect of both HTLV-I production and HTLV-I tax mRNA expression by anti-integrin-blocking antibodies. Results: All small GTPases were strongly activated in all cell lines derived from HAM/TSP patients, but not in control cell lines except one cell line. Treatment of all cell lines derived from HAM/TSP patients, but not all control cell lines, with anti-integrin-blocking antibodies significantly suppressed the level of HTLV-I p19 antigen in culture supernatants without downregulation of HTLV-I tax mRNA expression. Conclusion: Significant involvement with integrin/ligand signaling in extracellular release of HTLV-I virions in cell lines derived from HAM/TSP patients suggests that HTLV-I-infected cells in HAM/TSP patients have the potential for the efficient spread of HTLV-I to uninfected cells.

Objective-To investigate the role of superantigen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by assaying the serum levels of staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) antibodies. Methods-Serum IgG and IgM SEB antibodies were measured using an enzyme linked inmunosorbent assay (ELISA), and confirmed by Western blot analysis.The T cell receptor V,B (TCR VP) repertoire was analysed using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

We investigated whether a potent vasoconstrictor, endothelin, stimulated the proliferation of human thyroid epithelial cells (thyrocytes).[3H]-thymidine incorporation into normal thyrocytes and thyrocytes from patients with Graves' disease was significantly increased at 10-9 mol/l endothelin. reaching a plateau at 10-8 mol/l. The proliferative responses of the thyrocytes obtained from patients with Graves' disease were similar to those of normal thyrocytes. Furthermore, the cell number of thyrocytes stimulated by endothelin was increased as compared with that of unstimulated thyrocytes. Neither indomethacin nor heparin affected this endothelin-stimulated thyrocyte proliferation. When thyrocytes were cultured with both endothelin and recombinant interleukin 1\g=b\,there was an additive effect on thyrocyte proliferation. The Ca2+ entry blocker, verapamil, inhibited both the proliferative responses of thyrocytes to endothelin and the additive effect of endothelin and recombinant interleukin 1\ g=b\ on thyrocyte proliferation. These results suggest that endothelin functions as a growth-promoting factor for human thyrocytes, presumably through intracellular calcium influx.