No abstract

Four hundred patients with resectable colon and rectal cancers were operated on by 37 surgeons at 31 institutions. Patients were monitored with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level determinations and clinical examinations. One hundred thirty patients had recurrences, and 75 were reoperated on, with 43 reoperations CEA‐directed and 32 clinically directed. Two of 75 died within 1 month after the second operation. Twenty‐two second‐look patients remain free of disease 5 years after their second operaton. The highest resectability of recurrent cancer occurred in patients with a CEA level below 11 ng/ml in whom the CEA level was determined at intervals of 1 to 2 months. Cancer 55:1284‐1290, 1985.

No abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa induced a marked inflammatory response when injected intraperitoneally in C3H/HeJ mice. This inflammation was characterized by the accumulation of inflammatory cells and plasma protein and the release of arachidonic acid metabolites (6-trans-12-epileukotriene B4 [LTB4], 6-trans-LTB4, LTB4, 5-HETE (5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid), LTC4, LTD4, LTE4, prostaglandin E2 [PGE2], PGF2-et, and thromboxane B2 [T.B2]) in the peritoneal cavity of the mice. Heat-inactivated PLC did not evoke any of these effects, suggesting that enzyme activity is necessary for PLC-induced inflammation. When human granulocytes were incubated with PLC in vitro, 6-trans-12epi-LTB4, 6-trans-LTB4, LTB4, 5-HETE, and PGE2 were generated. Mouse peritoneal cells stimulated with PLC released 6-trans-LTB4, LTB4, PGE2, PGF2-a, and TxB2. Both human granulocytes and mouse peritoneal cells stimulated with PLC generated significantly increased levels of arachidonic acid metabolites as compared with cells incubated with heat-inactivated PLC. Leukotriene production by both populations of cells was inhibited when the cells were preincubated with nordihydroguaiaretic acid and subsequently stimulated with PLC. Similarly, both cell types released significantly lower amounts of cyclooxygenase pathway products when they were preincubated with indomethacin and subsequently stimulated with PLC.

These results suggest that increased proteolytic activity in ocular tissues during P. aeruginosa infection may contribute to the irreversible corneal damage observed during the infection.