Pharmacokinetics of hyperimmune anti-human immunodeficiency virus immunoglobulin in persons with AIDS

Hyperimmune anti-human immunodeficiency virus immunoglobulin (HIVIG) is an intravenous immunoglobulin prepared from HIV-infected asymptomatic donors with a CD4 cell count greater than 400 cells/microl and a high titer of antibody to HIV-1 p24 protein. Twelve persons with AIDS received four doses of HMG (two at 50 mg/kg of body weight and then two at 200 mg/kg) every 28 days. Pharmacokinetics were evaluated by measurement of anti-p24 antibody. HIVIG was well tolerated, and all participants completed the study. Three subjects who were not receiving Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) prophylaxis developed PCP. The mean value for HIVIG clearance was 3.02 ml/kg/day at 50 mg/kg and 3.65 ml/kg/day at 200 mg/kg (P = 0.027); the mean trough antibody titers (reciprocal units) were 1,442 and 4,428, respectively. This study indicates that high titers of anti-p24 antibody can be maintained with a monthly administration schedule of HIVIG and that short-term safety is acceptable. Comparisons to evaluate the therapeutic potential of HIVIG are justified.     

Childhood sexual abuse and current suicidality in college women and men

The effects of retinoic acid (RA) on osteoblastic differentiation and activity were studied in fetal rat calvaria cells cultured for up to 24 days. Fetal bovine serum used for the experiments was treated with an anion-exchange resin to remove endogenous RA. The depletion of RA in the treated serum was confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography and tritiated RA tracing. Under the culture conditions employed, the continuous presence of RA for 14 days at 10(-9) mol/l or higher decreased both alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity on day 12 and the number of bone nodules on day 14 in a dose-dependent manner. Short-term (24 h) exposure to RA at 10(-8) mol/l, which is a physiological concentration, decreased and increased the levels of ALP and osteopontin mRNA on day 6, respectively. Retinoic acid at 10(-8) mol/l also increased the level of osteocalcin mRNA on day 12. However, these effects were not obvious at later stages (days 18 and 24). At a high concentration (10(-6) mol/l), RA increased the level of osteopontin mRNA on day 6 and decreased the levels of ALP and osteocalcin mRNA irrespective of culture period. These results suggest that, at physiological concentrations, RA suppresses the differentiation of osteoprogenitor cells and regulates osteoblastic functions.     

Altered serial position learning after frontal lobe lesion

The serial position function is a powerful and highly reliable feature of human learning, with well-described primacy and recency effects. We tested the hypothesis that frontal lobe lesions in patients would disrupt the serial position function since such patients are known to have disturbed temporal ordering, learning in the presence of interference, encoding and organizational approaches to learning. Performance was compared in patients with focal, acquired lesions of frontal and non-frontal cortices, using a standardized paradigm of verbal list learning. Results indicated a similar pattern of performance on first trial learning for the two groups. However, across learning trials, frontal lesion subjects failed to maintain significant primacy and recency effects. Non-frontal lesion subjects consistently showed the expected U-shaped serial position curve across all trials. Subjective organization in learning was particularly deficient in the dorsolateral frontal lesion subjects. We propose that serial position effects are qualitatively different after frontal lobe lesion, being transitory and prone to alteration by the cumulative effects of disturbed temporal-spatial processing across learning trials.     

Minors held by majors: the H13 minor histocompatibility locus defined as a peptide/MHC class I complex

The products of minor histocompatibility (H) loci are serious barriers to tissue transplantation even among major histocompatibility complex (MHC) identical individuals, frequently causing chronic graft rejection and graft versus host disease. Over 50 minor H loci map to mouse autosomal chromosomes but none are known at the molecular level. By expression cloning, we identified the H13 locus, a classical minor H locus first detected 30 years ago by the trait of graft rejection. The H13a allele is located on chromosome 2 and encodes a novel protein that yields the rare naturally processed nonapeptide SSVVGVWYL (SVL9) for presentation by the Db MHC class I molecule. The SVL9 peptide binds Db MHC despite the absence of the consensus binding motif, and a conservative methyl group substitution (Valine 4 <--> Isoleucine) explains why reciprocal T cell responses are elicited in H13a and H13b congenic strains.     

Simultaneous cross-linking of CD6 and CD28 induces cell proliferation in resting T cells

In the present study, we showed that simultaneous ligation of the monoclonal antibodies (mAb) against CD6 and CD28 induces T-cell proliferation in purified resting T lymphocytes in the absence of T-cell receptor (TCR) occupancy. No cell proliferation was observed when the mAb were cross-linked alone or used simultaneously in the soluble form. T-cell proliferation mediated through CD6/CD28 is accompanied by the up-regulation of interleukin-2 (IL-2) mRNA and expression of IL-2 receptors on the cell surface. In the presence of IL-2-neutralizing mAb the proliferative response of the T cell induced through CD6/CD28 was inhibited dose dependently. Cross-linking mAb to CD6 and CD28 alone or together did not down-regulate the CD3/TCR complex. T-cell proliferation mediated through CD6/CD28 was only partially blocked by the immunosuppressive drug, cyclosporin A (CsA), whereas anti-CD28-induced T-cell proliferation in the presence of the phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), was unaffected. In sharp contrast T-cell proliferation mediated by anti-CD6 in the presence of TPA was efficiently blocked by CsA. In addition, two protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors, GF 109203X and H-7 dose-dependently inhibited T-cell proliferation mediated through CD6/CD28, suggesting that PKC activation may be involved. Furthermore, there was a marked differential dose-dependent inhibitory effect of the PKC inhibitors on T-cell proliferation mediated by the co-ligation of anti-CD6 or anti-CD28 in the presence of anti-CD3, with the former being more sensitive to PKC inhibition. Taken collectively, our results suggest that T-cell activation can occur through an antigen-independent pathway by cross-linking the accessory molecules, CD6 and CD28, and that these two cell surface antigens may have distinct signalling pathways.