Detection of exfoliated bladder cancer cells by monoclonal antibodies to tumor-associated cell surface antigens

Monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) to human tumor antigens have potential for tumor detection and treatment. For bladder carcinoma, the detection of exfoliated tumor cells in urinary specimens may be accomplished with Mabs reacting to tumor cell-surface components. This method may be useful for screening and monitoring carcinogen-exposed workers. A Mab generated by our laboratory, 3G2-C6, reacts with high affinity to a cell-surface component expressed by bladder tumor cells. The potential utility of this Mab in detecting exfoliated tumor cells was evaluated in bladder wash specimens. The Mab method detected positive cells in 87% (56/64) of specimens from patients with bladder cancer, including a great majority with grade 1 tumor and carcinoma in situ, superior to the routine cytology done on the same specimens. Cells in specimens from patients with urinary calculi, chronic cystitis, and history of bladder cancer also reacted with the Mab, suggesting that other stimuli can induce antigen expression. The Mab method can also be performed on urine samples, thus allowing evaluation of the ability of the Mab to identify premalignant, malignant, and other abnormal exfoliated cells in urine. The Mab method represents a unique opportunity to develop noninvasive detection of bladder cancer and to monitor and screen bladder cancer high-risk groups.

A study of the immunofunction in patients of coronary heart disease with the fundamental deficiency and outward excess syndrome

The fundamental deficiency and outward excess syndrome of coronary heart disease can be classified into Qi Yang deficiency with blood stasis (QYD) and Yin deficiency with blood stasis (YD). The patients showed disturbances in immunofunction manifested as marked increase of serum IgG, CIC, IC-IgG and IC-C3 levels and the percentage of B cells in the peripheral blood, while the percentages of OKT3+, OKT4+ and OKT8+ cells markedly decreased, especially the percentage of OKT8+ cells, resulting in an increase of the ratio of T4/8 and imbalance between TS and TH. The authors deem that the fundamental deficiency of coronary heart disease is related to the low cellular immunity, especially the imbalance between TS and TH cells, while outward excess of coronary heart disease is related to hyperactivity of humoral immunity.

Immunochemical and biochemical characterizations of two monoclonal antibody-reacting antigens associated with human bladder carcinoma

Two murine monoclonal antibodies (Mabs), 3G2-C6 and C3, which react to surface components on human bladder carcinoma cells, were produced using cultured human bladder tumor cells as immunogens. The expression of these antigens is highly restricted to malignant cells, and as such these Mabs are potentially useful for cancer diagnosis and treatment. We report here the immunochemical characterizations and molecular size determinations of these two Mab-reacting bladder tumor-associated antigens. The 3G2-C6 antigen has a molecular weight of 92,000, while the C3 antigen is a macromolecule with a molecular weight of about 600,000, consisting of 4 subunits of identical size, as determined by high pressure liquid chromatography gel filtration and sodium dodecyl sulfate and gradient-gel electrophoresis. The apparent affinity constants for the binding of these two Mabs and the number of antigenic determinants per cell were determined in 4 human bladder tumor cell lines (MGH-U1 through MGH-U4) with different degrees of malignancy. The apparent affinity constants for 3G2-C6 ranged from 1.8 x 10(-10) to 1.7 x 10(-8) M, while those for C3 ranged from 1.9 x 10(-9) to 4.4 x 10(-8) M. The number of antigenic determinants per cell ranged from 3 x 10(5) to 2.9 x 10(3) for 3G2-C6 and from 2 x 10(6) to 1.2 x 10(5) for C3. This coincides with our earlier observation that bladder tumor cells of higher malignancy tend to express higher numbers of determinants of these antigens, particularly of 3G2-C6. Very low levels of both of the antigens were released from the cells; less than 10% of the antigens could be detected in 3-day spent culture medium. Radioactively labeled Mabs were used to assess the stability of the antibody bound to MGH-U1 cells. More than 70% of 3G2-C6 remained bound to the cell after 24 h, whereas more than 60% of C3 was lost from the cell and recovered in the culture medium as small fragments. This information may be useful for the clinical applications of these Mabs, including the improvement of in vitro detection of bladder cancer through identification of exfoliated tumor cells and determining the potential utilities of these Mabs in in vivo localization of in situ and metastatic bladder tumors.

[Postabortion complications and recovery of ovarian function in nulliparous women]

Induced abortions performed in 481 cases of nulliparous women were carefully investigated. The incidence of complications during operation was 2.1%, of which the majority was the induced abortion syndrome. The early postabortal complication rate was 6.4% and the majority was mild pelvic inflammatory disease. The late complication rate was 10.2% and manifested mainly by menstrual disturbance. Ovulation occurred in 67.4% of the first postabortal cycles. It is suggested that the induced abortion is not a safe procedure for nulliparous women.

[Effects of kuo guan powder on immunologic functions in patients with ben-xu biao-shi syndrome in ischemic heart disease]

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is correlated with the Immunodisturbances. In this study, the immunological effects of Kuo Guan No 1, a powder for aiding Qi and activating the blood, in 17 cases of Qi Yang Xu Xue Yu (QYXXY, ) syndrome, Kuo Guan No 2, powder for nourishing the Yin and activating the blood, in 14 cases of Yin-Xu Xue-Yu (YXXY, ) syndrome had been observed in one month treatment. After treatment with both powder of Kuo Guan No 1 and Kuo Guan No 2, the increased levels of IgG, CIC, IC-IgG and IC-C3 in serum and the numbers of B cells in peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) of the patients with Ben-Xu Biao-Shi (BXBS, ) syndrome of IHD angina were markedly decreased and showed no significant difference while compared with the normal controls (P greater than 0.05); the numbers of OKT+3, OKT+4 and OKT+8 cells in PBL, which were lower before treatment in both groups, were obviously increased and showed no marked difference with the controls (P greater than 0.05); the higher ratio of T4/T8 was lowered in group of YXXY syndrome, and showed no difference while compared with the controls (P greater than 0.05), but the ratio in QYXXY syndrome group was lowered than that in the controls (P less than 0.05). After the treatment with Kuo Guan No 1, the increased level of C3 in serum in QYXXY group was lowered down to that of the controls (P greater than 0.05). The results indicated that it is reasonable to consider that "Kuo Guan" powder is an immunoregulative preparation for patients with BXBS syndrome of IHD angina.

[Scrotopenile inversion: a report of 4 cases]

From Sep. 1980 to July 1987, 4 cases of scrotopenile inversion were treated surgically. There were complete and partial scrotopenile inversion in 2 cases respectively. A pedicle skin tube of scrotum was used to prolongate the urethra and correct the curved penis. The operation was performed at a time in 3 cases and satisfactory results were obtained in all 4 cases.

[Effects of cerebral GABA level on learning and memory]

In step-down tests, icv GABA 0.1 micrograms (3 min before training) or ip amino-oxyacetic acid 20 mg/kg (1.5 h before training) both significantly impaired memory acquisition in mice. But semicarbazide (ip 110 mg/kg 3.5 h before training), an inhibitor of GABA synthesis, improved the anisodine-induced impairments of learning. The effects of GABA was also enhanced by aminooxyacetic acid. The results suggest that the increase of cerebral GABA contents is unfavourable to learning and memory.

[Route and preparation of 5-Fu administration as preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in rectal cancer. II. Morphologic, ultrastructural and histochemical changes of the cancer cells after intrarectal and intravenous 5-Fu administration]

From March 1981 to October 1985, 5-Fu was preoperatively given to 65 Dukes B and C rectal cancer patients (intrarectal suppository 40 and emulsion 20, intravenous 5). The results indicated that after intrarectal administration, marked changes and destruction of the cancer cells in morphology were observed in 40% of the resected rectal specimens for suppository and in 45% for emulsion; marked retrograde degeneration in ultrastructure was found in 47.5% for suppository and in 50% for emulsion; DNA synthesis was obviously reduced in 63% for suppository and in 75% for emulsion. It is suggested that the emulsion be a better preparation. No obvious changes or destruction in morphology and ultrastructure were observed in cancer cells treated by intravenous drip of high dose 5-Fu though leukopenia below 4000 was found in 2/5. However, it was 0/60 by rectal administration. This implies that the intrarectal route is more rational than the conventional intravenous route. This study presents an alternate supplementary treatment in addition to radiotherapy for the reduction of postoperative local recurrence of Dukes B and C rectal cancers.

[Route and preparation of 5-Fu administration as preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in rectal cancer. I. Concentration and distribution of 5-Fu in tissues monitored by 14C-isotopically tagged 5-Fu]

Experimental studies on more rational route and preparation of preoperative administration of 5-Fu were undertaken from March 1981 to June 1985. The experimental observation shows that intrarectal administration of radioisotope 14C tagged 5-Fu (suppository and emulsion) produces a much higher concentration in the rectal wall and mesenteric lymph nodes compared with its intravenous administration (40 rabbits) and produces a much higher concentration in cancer tissue than in surrounding tissues and in mesenteric lymph nodes than in the inferior mesenteric veins (4 patients). These findings favor the attenuation or destruction of cancer cells in the tumor and regional lymph nodes-the main route of spread. Also, after intrarectal administration of 14C tagged 5-Fu, its concentration in the lung, liver and bone marrow is much lower than that after intravenous administration (40 rabbits), and hence systemic toxicity is decreased. The above results indicate that the intrarectal route stands better than the conventional intravenous route for 5-Fu preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in rectal cancer. Administration of 5-Fu emulsion produces a higher concentration in the rectal wall and mesenteric lymph nodes than that of 5-Fu suppository and peak concentration also appears earlier, i.e. 2 hours after the administration of 5-Fu emulsion. This will lessen the interference of 5-Fu absorption owing to its premature evacuation, indicating that emulsion is a better form for intrarectal 5-Fu.

Stochastic analysis of myoelectric temporal signatures for multifunctional single-site activation of prostheses and orthoses

This paper is concerned with a stochastic time-series analysis of the temporal signatures of myoelectric (ME) signals including the determination of model order and sampling rate. The paper considers the use of time-series parameters for the activation of artificial limbs for high-level amputees, of stimulation electrodes or of powered braces for paralysed persons, in several degrees of freedom, from a single or two surface-electrode pairs at locations where considerable ME cross-talk exists. The multifunctional capability from a single site is based on the differences between the time-series (TS) parameters for different muscle activation patterns at the same ME site, these differences being thus used for limb function discrimination via easily trainable muscle activation patterns at the vicinity of the electrode site. Specifically, the analysis is in terms of identifying the AR parameters of a time-domain autoregressive (AR) signature model both for the complete ME spectrum and for parts thereof, and in terms of the autocorrelation of the signal and of the models residual. Determination of sampling rate and of model orders is discussed in detail. It is shown that, using online real-time analysis, differences in the AR time-series parameters can be observed for different trainable patterns of muscle activation, at the same electrode location, even at the same ME power levels, as long as considerable cross-talk exists at the electrode site. These parameter differences can be accentuated if one considers the AR parameters for lower-frequency spectral windows. A case is made in this paper for employing TS analysis to squeeze out information in a distinct but low-level ripple of the low frequency spectrum of the signal. This information tends to be ignored in frequency domain, but is all that the AR parameters care for in TS analysis, since they are not concerned, with a flat-average low-frequency spectrum, i.e., its white-noise-like part, which is the residual term of the AR Model and not an AR parameter. Discrimination between different functions from a single electrode-site, at even the same power level, is thus shown to require considerable cross-talk at the given site, and to require the consideration of only the low-frequency part of the spectrum.