No abstract

Diarrhoea and weight loss are found in more than 50% of patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In some patients the symptoms can be very severe, leading to death even in the absence of opportunistic infections. In 30% of these patients, enteric pathogens cannot be identified, and approximately only half of the identifiable aetiologic agents of diarrhoea in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were treatable with antibiotics. Immunoglobulins from bovine colostrum (Lactobin, Biotest, Dreieich, FRG) contain high titers of antibodies against a wide range of bacterial, viral and protozoal pathogens as well as against various bacterial toxins. Lactobin (LIG) is quite resistant to 24-h incubation with gastric juice. In a multi-center pilot study 37 immunodeficiency patients with chronic diarrhoea [29 HIV-infected patients, 2 patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), one unidentified immunodeficiency, five patients with graft versus host disease (GvHD) following bone marrow transplantation] were treated with oral LIG (10 g/day for 10 days). Good therapeutic effects were observed. Out of 31 treatment periods in 29 HIV-infected patients 21 gave good results leading to transient (10 days) or long-lasting (more than 4 weeks) normalisation of the stool frequency. The mean daily stool frequency decreased from 7.4 to 2.2 at the end of the treatment. Eight HIV-infected patients showed no response. The diarrhoea recurred in 12 patients within 4 weeks (32.4%), while 19 patients were free of diarrhoea for at least 4 weeks (51.3%). In 5 patients intestinal cryptosporidiosis disappeared following oral LIG treatment. LIG treatment was also beneficial in 4 out of 5 GvHD patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Besides immunosuppression and UV radiation, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection was also suggested to be involved in the development of non-melanoma skin cancer, the most common malignancy after transplantation. In this study we used a comprehensive PCR assay to analyze the prevalence of individual HPV types in different skin lesions from transplant and non-transplant patients. HPV DNA was detected more frequently in squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of transplant recipients (75%) than the same lesion was in non-immunosuppressed patients (47%). Similar HPV prevalences were found in cutaneous warts (91% vs %YO), pre-malignant skin tumors (38% vs 36%), and normal skin specimens (17% vs 16%) of both patient populations. Overall, more than 40 different HPV types were identified. HPV types 5 and 8 were found more frequently in SCCs (26%) than in pre-cancerous (5%) or benign lesions (1%). All HPV 5-and HPV 8-positive SCCs were from immunosuppressed patients, indicating that infection with HPV 5 and HPV 8 may present an increased risk of SCC development in these patients.

No abstract

Background: The association of human papillomavirus (HPV) with cutaneous squamous-cell carcinomas (SCCs) has been described recently, but the frequency and spectrum of HPV types identified differed substantially in distinct studies. Objective: Comparison of different PCR assays with respect to sensitivity and range of HPV types detected. Method: Cutaneous SCC were analyzed for HPV DNA using both consensus PCR assays with degenerate primers and PCR assays with nondegenerate primers derived from HPV types 5 and 8. Results: HPV DNA was found in 50% of SCC specimens using degenerate primers. The rate of HPV-DNA-positive specimens increased to 69% when PCR assays with nondegenerate primers were applied in addition. The spectrum of HPV types detected with each of the PCR assays differed considerably. Conclusions: The frequency and spectrum of HPV types detected in cutaneous SCC strongly depends on the HPV detection system used and urges the need for standardization of HPV detection and typing in skin lesions in order to characterize HPV types predominating in distinct tumors.

Monoclonal antibodies directed against tumor-associated antigens of bladder carcinoma were used to identify tumor cells in bladder washout specimens of 40 patients with bladder carcinoma (group 1), 41 with no bladder disease or with urinary tract infections (group 2), 41 who received long-term mitomycin C instillation therapy after excision of the tumors (group 3) and 39 who received no prophylaxis after excision of the tumors (group 4). In all groups the same bladder washout specimen was used for standard urinary cytological and immunocytological tests. True positive results were obtained in 90 per cent of the patients in group 1 according to our immunocytological criteria and in 43 per cent according to standard cytology studies. No urine specimens in group 2 (controls) were immunocytologically positive, while 16 of 41 in group 3 and 17 of 39 in group 4 were positive immunocytologically but only 4 and 5, respectively, were positive according to standard cytology studies. Further followup of these patients will show whether cells positive for monoclonal antibody 486 P 3/12 will permit early detection of recurrent bladder cancer and whether one can identify patients who require prophylaxis after removal of the superficial bladder tumors.

Background: Viral infection was suggested to be etiologically involved in skin tumor development. Data on the association of human papillomavirus (HPV) with keratoacanthomas are still conflicting. Objective: Analysis of HPV infection in keratoacanthomas of the general population. Methods: HPV DNA was detected by nested PCR. To include a broad range of both cutaneous and mucosal HPV types, HPV PCR was performed with two sets of degenerate primers. Results: Considering only β-globin-positive specimens, HPV DNA was detected in 20% of the specimens obtained from 18% of the patients. The spectrum of HPV types detected contains HPV types 6, 14, 16, 35, 58 and 61. In 1 case, the underlying HPV type was not identified. In 1 specimen with transition towards squamous-cell carcinoma, HPV 16 was detected. Conclusions: HPV is probably not generally associated with the etiology of keratoacanthoma but may be relevant in individual cases. Oncogenic HPV types may be cofactors for malignant transformation of initially benign skin lesions like keratoacanthomas.

To characterize the risk of malignant progression of cervical epithelial lesions associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) types of yet unknown oncogenic potential the prevalences of these HPVs in different cervical epithelial lesions of 809 patients were determined. HPV types 53, 73, and CP8304 were detected in genital specimens of 16, 22, and 12 of the patients, respectively. The ratio of prevalence in high grade dysplastic lesions or cancers and low grade dysplastic lesions or normal specimens was calculated and compared to corresponding values of well known high-risk (HR) and low-risk (LR) HPVs. For HPV 6, 11, 16, 18, 35, and 73 a ratio of 0.1, 0.2, 5.9, 6.5, 2.5, and 2.4, respectively, was calculated. The ratios of HPV53 and CP8304 were less than 1. Moreover, in contrast to HPV73, these viruses have never been detected in cancer specimens. Thus, HPV53 and CP8304 infections are probably not associated with a high risk of carcinogenesis, while HPV73 could be another HR-HPV type.