Acta Medica Okayama volume31 issue5

Cell-mediated immunity was studied in 23 cases of advanced gastrointestinal cancer. The patients received levamisole at 150 mg/day for three consecutive days each week for four weeks. In cases at the terminal stage of gastrointestinal cancer, the blastformation rate of peripheral blood lymphocytes against phytohemagglutinin (PHA) after the administration of levamisole showed a slight increase, but cases with blastformation rates over 40% increased markedly three or four weeks after the initial administration of levamisole. The peripheral blood lymphocyte count showed little change in these cases.

Plasma postheparin lipolytic activity (PHLA) was measured on 50 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Plasma PHLA was significantly decreased in SLE patients. This decrease was most striking in the acute phase of the disease. There was a close relationship between decreased PHLA and immunologic factors indicative of the acute phase of SLE. These immunologic factors included shaggy antinuclear antibody pattern, low serum complement titer, high DNA antibody titer, mixed cryoglobulin and lumpy glomerular pattern by immunofluorescent staining.

The microfilaria of Brugia pahangi obtained from an experimentally infected dog were observed with the electron microscope. The sheath was composed of small granules and was covered with electron-dense particles on the outer surface and with small granules on the inner surface. The cuticle was composed of an outermost layer, a trilaminate membrane and an inner layer. The hypodermis was composed of four components as in the adult stage (two small ones on the lateral sides, two large ones on the dorsal and ventral sides). The muscle cells comprised a single layer under the hypodermis on the dorsal and ventral sides. On each side, two muscle cells usually appeared in a transverse section. The thick myofilament was surrounded with 8 to 12 thin myofilaments. Dense bodies were present around the cephalic space. In the cells of the nuclei column, the cytoplasm was very narrow, and the electron-dense nucleus close to each other. The cuticular central canal was connected to the buccal cavity and to the inner body. A sponge-like structure was seen at the junctional part of the canal and the inner body. The inner body showed a homogeneous granular appearance. Eight cephalic papillae were observed at the head tip. Two amphids, each having more than eight cilium-like structures, were connected with the nerve elements and open in the head part. Two phasmids, each having one ciliumlike structure, opened in the caudal part. Two types of neurosecretory granules were observed in the nerve ring and the dorsal and ventral longitudinal nerves were clear except in the anterior and the posterior part of the worm. The excretory and the anal vesicles had contacts with thin and thick cytoplasmic processes respectively, and these vesicles opened to the exterior. The nuclei of the G cell and R cells showed similar electron-density. Lamellate structures were present in the muscle and the hypodermis.

The precipitation reaction of bovine serum albumin coupled with p-azophenylleucine with homologous antibody was inhibited by several structurally related haptens. The isobutyl group substituent on alpha-carbon atom of the leucine residue contributed more than -5.8 Kcal/mol to the free energy of binding. This value was consistent with the free energy change expected from the transfer of n-butane from an aqueous environment to liquid n-butane. The observed contribution was explained, in terms of the hydrophobic interaction of the isobutyl group with the antigen binding site of the antibody molecule. These results were also compared with other hapten-antibody systems.

With the electron microscopic and the negative staining method, the glomerular basement membrane of human and bovine kidneys was shown to have a definite fine meshwork structure. The pores of the meshwork of bovine glomerular basement membrane appeared to be pentagonal or hexagonal in shape. Strands of the meshwork branched three-dimensionally and made up the whole basement membrane. The portion of the sgrand between two neighboring branches was presumed to be a structural unit of the basement membrane. Glomerular basement membrane in man showed a structure similar to that seen in cattle, although the pore size of the meshwork was smaller in man than in cattle.

Gastrointestinal cancer patients were followed up for up to 30 months postoperatively and their clinical status related to a parameter of nonspecific immunity, the blastformation rate of peripheral blood lymphocytes against phytohemagglutinin. By the fourth postoperative week, the blastformation rate had recovered from the effect of the operation. In patients who had undergone curative resection, the postoperative level rose to exceed the preoperative level, whereas whereas in those in whom resection had not been possible, the blastformation rate failed to show this rise by the fourth week, and continued at the decreased immediate postoperative level. Results for long-term follow-up (30 months postoperatively) showed that the blastformation rate continued at high levels (almost all over 40%) in cases of curative resection without recurrence, but remained low (under 40%) in those in which the tumor could not be removed. The 40% level of the blastformation rate test thus correlated well with the prognosis. The blastformation rate, therefore, proved a very good parameter for following the pre-and post-operative clinical course of gastrointestinal cancer patients.