Objective: Positron emission tomography (PET) is now primarily used in oncological indication owing to the successful application of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in an increasing number of clinical indications. Glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1) is recognized as a major early marker of cellular malignant transformation. The aims of this study were to assess whether FDG-PET is a useful diagnostic tool for renal cell carcinoma and to compare the pathologic characteristics. Methods: Nineteen consecutive patients who had renal cell carcinoma were examined using FDG-PET preoperatively. The results of PET were then compared to the histology obtained after radical surgery and the immunoreactivity of GLUT-1 was also studied. Results: Pathologic examination confirmed that all 19 patients suffered from renal cell carcinoma. Increased FDG uptake was found in six of the 19 patients (31.5%). The immunohistochemical examination of GLUT-1 in renal cell carcinoma produced different results in each patient. There was no correlation with GLUT-1 immunoreactivity and FDG-PET positivity.
Conclusion:These results suggest that FDG-PET may not be a useful diagnostic tool for renal cell carcinoma.
Candida albicans is a medically important fungus which induces a disseminated candidasis and candidemia in immunocompromised hosts, and releases a polysaccharide fraction into the blood. We recently found that C. albicans released a water-soluble polysaccharide fraction (CAWS) into synthetic medium and demonstrated that CAWS was mainly composed of a complex of mannan and b b-glucan. In the murine system, CAWS showed a lethality resembling anaphylactic shock when administered i.v., and induced coronary arteritis similar to Kawasaki Disease (KD) when given i.p. In the present study, we examined the biological activity of CAWS in the cell culture and found the following: i) CAWS slightly induced production of IFN-g g and IL-6 by splenocytes at lower dose (ca. 10 m mg/ml), but at a higher dose strongly inhibited the proliferation of splenocytes induced by a B cell mitogen, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and a T cell mitogen, concanavalin A. ii) The viability of these splenocytes monitored by propidium iodide staining was significantly reduced. iii) The addition of CAWS to a culture of monophage RAW264.7 cells significantly reduced cellular growth rate dose dependently. iv) The LPS-mediated synthesis of cytokines by RAW264.7 cells was significantly inhibited by CAWS. v) CAWS induced an aggregation of platelets in human platelet-rich plasma, and vi) CAWS inhibited the production of thrombomodulin by human umbilical endothelial cells and acted synergistically with TNF-a a. Thus, CAWS strongly inhibited the cellular functions of leukocytes in vitro, partly through direct cytotoxicity. The enhanced production in injured cells of the vascular endothelium would be related to the local inflammatory response in the coronary artery.
Forty-six strains of group B streptococci (GBS), including various serotypes and non-serotypable strains, were tested for their ability to induce platelet aggregation in human platelet-rich plasma; four strains, all belonging to type III, showed a positive reaction. The characteristics of the reaction were investigated in these four positive strains. Aggregation was dependent on the ratio of bacteria to platelets, being maximal at a ratio of 4.3. Platelet aggregation was inhibited by EDTA (100% inhibition at 3.1 mM), indomethacin (100% inhibition at 10 mM), acetylsalicylic acid (93-100% inhibition at 5.0 mM) and quinacrine (100% inhibition at 0.25 mM). Thus the reaction was cation-dependent and required cyclooxygenase activity. Assays for cytosolic lactate dehydrogenase did not indicate platelet lysis. GBS induced the release of [3H]serotonin, which was maximal (68-78%) at 10 min after the reaction was started. Experiments with gel-filtered platelets suggested that GBS-induced platelet aggregation required both fibrinogen and heat-resistant (56 degrees C, 30 min) serum factors. Type-specific antisera prevented the platelet aggregation activity of heat-killed bacteria, but not of live bacteria. Trypsin digestion of the bacterial cells caused an almost complete loss of the platelet aggregation activity.
Major species of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) were tested for their ability to induce platelet aggregation in rabbit platelet-rich plasma (PRP) .Among 11 species of CNS tested, a majority of the strains of 10 species of CNS (S. epidermidis, S. simulans, S. capitis, S. hyicus, S. sciuri, S. cohnii, S. xylosus, S. hominis, S. haemolyticus, S. warneri) caused induction of the platelet aggregation and serotonin release, while S. saprophyticus did not show such activity. The addition of aspirin (10 mM) or quinacrine (1 mM) to PRP resulted in no remarkable effect on the platelet aggregation induced by these strains and it was shown that the platelet aggregation did not require arachidonate pathways. Complement system components were shown to be one of the plasma factors required for platelet aggregation by ten strains of each species of CNS. The bacterial substance participating in the platelet aggregation by ten species of CNS tested was indicated to be heat-stable and trypsinresistant, while the activity of a strain of S . epidermidis was susceptible to trypsin.
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