SUMMARY The in vivo distribution of enterally administered human milk leucocytes labelled with indium hydroxyquinoline (1"'in) was studied in premature baboons. The animals were killed at 72 hours of age and tissue samples examined for radioactivity. Maximum activity was found in the luminal contents, and activity in the liver and spleen was higher than in bone marrow, the site where free isotope is normally deposited. These findings suggest that some intact milk leucocytes may cross from the gastrointestinal tract into the neonatal circulation. Also the high activity in gastrointestinal tissue that had been washed several times indicates that leucocytes adhere to mucosa or lie intramurally. We speculate that the presence of leucocytes in the gastrointestinal tract 60 hours after a single breast feed can provide an important defence mechanism against infection.Research continues to show the scientific benefits of breast feeding.' These benefits are not limited to nutritional elements alone, as breast milk contains many active immunological components including immunoglobulins and numerous cells.2 By transfer of these factors, breast feeding has been implicated in maintaining immunological homoeostasis in the neonatal intestine durin the period of immaturity of the immune system.

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The goal of this investigation was to develop stable radioimmunoconjugates (RICs) of anti-HER2/neu monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) for imaging and therapy in an animal model bearing human breast tumor xenografts that express normal (MCF-7 cells) and increased amounts of HER2/neu receptors (HCC-1954, BT-474, SKBR-3 cells) on their cell surface membranes. Pharmacy-grade Herceptin, a murine anti-HER2/neu MoAb, and nonspecific mouse IgG protein were conjugated with the recently developed DTPA linker known as CHX-A"-DTPA. These immunoconjugates were labeled with (111)InCl(3) and (90)YCl(3). Using a molar excess of 10:1 CHX-A"-DTPA to immunoglobulin, average specific activities of 1.87 microCi (111)In/microg RIC and 2.71 microCi (90)Y/microg RIC were obtained. The purity of RICs was 96%+ for (111)In and 99%+ for (90)Y. Stability in human plasma at 37 degrees C for both RICs ranged from 98% at 24 h to 85% at 96 h. Binding capacity of the RICs was tested with human cancer cell lines MCF-7, HCC-1954, BT-474, and SKBR-3. Using (111)In-labeled nonspecific IgG protein as a control, (111)In-Herceptin RIC was found to bind to MCF-7 cells with a ratio of 2.5:1 and to SKBR-3 cells with a ratio of 85:1 after 3 h of incubation. (111)In anti-HER2/neu RIC bound to MCF-7 cells with a ratio of 6:1 and to SKBR-3 cells with a ratio of 115:1 after 3 h of incubation. (90)Y-anti-HER2/neu RIC bound 10-times greater to BT-474 cells than to MCF-7 cells. Thus, these MoAbs can be labeled with (111)In and (90)Y using the CHX-A"-DTPA linker. The resulting RICs ((111)In- and (90)Y-anti HER2/neu antibodies) are stable and bind significantly to HER2 overexpressing tumor cell lines.

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To determine the incidence of benign thyroid nodules and the risk factors for their recurrence after surgical removal, we followed 511 patients for 1 to 40.6 years (median, 11.2) after surgery for benign thyroid nodules arising after local irradiation for unrelated benign diseases in childhood. Recurrent thyroid nodules developed in 100 patients (19.5 percent). The risk of recurrence correlated inversely with the amount of thyroid tissue removed. Women had a higher recurrence rate than men (28.4 percent vs. 10.3 percent; P less than 0.05). Among the 299 patients who had been treated with thyroid hormone at the discretion of their physicians to suppress thyroid-stimulating hormone, 25 had recurrences (8.4 percent), as compared with 72 of 201 patients who did not receive thyroid hormone (35.8 percent) (hazard ratio taking into account the extent of surgery and the patient's sex, 2.5; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.5 to 4.1). Histologic analysis of the 73 tissue samples from patients with recurrences showed that 14 samples (19.2 percent) were malignant. Thyroid hormone treatment had no effect on the rate of thyroid cancer. We conclude that radiation-associated benign thyroid nodules have a high recurrence rate, similar to that reported among nonirradiated patients with benign thyroid nodules. We also conclude that treatment with thyroid hormone decreases the risk of benign recurrences, particularly in women, but not the risk of cancer.