Essential thrombocythemia terminating in pure erythroleukemia

2004

Transformation into acute leukemia is a rare event in essential thrombocythemia (ET). The blasts are usually of myeloid, rarely of megakaryoblastic differentiation. We present the case of a patient with pure erythroleukemia after a nearly 10-year course of ET, which was treated with hydroxyurea. The patient, a 58-year-old male, presented with an elevated thrombocyte count (926,000/μL) and normal values of hemoglobin and leukocytes. After 10 years of therapy with hydroxyurea, the patient developed acute leukemia of solely erythroid differentiation. Chemotherapy with cytarabine and daunorubicin resulted in incomplete remission. The patient died 2 months after diagnosis of acute erythroleukemi…

Control Of Organ Transplant-Associated Graft-versus-Host Disease By Activated Host Lymphocyte Infusions

2004

Background Prolonged persistence of donor-derived T cells after organ transplantation has been proposed to improve long-term allograft survival. However, surviving transplant-derived T cells are also able to mediate devastating graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Currently, GvHD after organ transplantation is usually refractory to conventional therapy and the disease outcome fatal. Methods Graft-reactive host T cells were generated ex vivo from a patient suffering from a severe and refractory liver-transplant-associated GvHD. To control GvHD, activated alloreactive host T cells were repetitively retransferred into the patient (activated host lymphocyte infusion [aHLI]). Results Adoptive trans…

GM-CSF expression by human lung microvascular endothelial cells: in vitro and in vivo findings.

2002

Recently, many findings indicate that granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic lung diseases. In the present paper, the production of this cytokine in human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMEC) is investigated. In an in vitro study, quiescent HPMEC did not express GM-CSF, either at the transcriptional or at the protein level. After activation for 4 h with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α (30/300 U/ml), lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 0.1/1 μg/ml), or interleukin (IL)-1β (100 U/ml), a significant release of GM-CSF was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, with a time-dependent increase over 72 h. IL…

TGF-β Suppresses Tumor Progression in Colon Cancer by Inhibition of IL-6 trans-Signaling

2004

Alterations of TGF-beta signaling have been described in colorectal cancer, although the molecular consequences are largely unknown. By using transgenic mice overexpressing TGF-beta or a dominant-negative TGF-betaRII, we demonstrate that TGF-beta signaling in tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes controls the growth of dysplastic epithelial cells in experimental colorectal cancer, as determined by histology and a novel system for high-resolution chromoendoscopy. At the molecular level, TGF-beta signaling in T cells regulated STAT-3 activation in tumor cells via IL-6. IL-6 signaling required tumor cell-derived soluble IL-6R rather than membrane bound IL-6R and suppression of such TGF-beta-depende…

TGFbeta regulates the CD4+CD25+ T-cell pool and the expression of Foxp3 in vivo.

2004

Factors influencing the development of CD4+CD25+ T-cells in vivo are poorly understood. In order to investigate the contribution of TGFbeta1 to the development and function of CD4+CD25+ T-cells, we generated a gain of function mutation resulting in the overexpression of an active form of TGFbeta1 in T-cells under control of the human CD2 promoter. In peripheral lymphoid organs and in the thymus, the frequency of CD4+CD25+ T-cells was increased in transgenic mice. This appeared to be due to an autocrine effect of TGFbeta on T-cells, since concomitant impairment of TGFbeta-signaling in double transgenic mice resulted in a phenotype similar to wild type. In contrast, in single transgenic mice …

Phenprocoumon-induced liver disease ranges from mild acute hepatitis to (sub-) acute liver failure

2003

Abstract Background/Aims Except for bleeding complications, other serious adverse reactions of coumarin anticoagulants such as hepatotoxicity or skin necrosis are comparatively rare. Nonetheless, a small number of coumarin-induced (sub-) acute liver failures has been published. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed of patients treated for liver disease between 1992 and 2002 at our department to evaluate the incidence, clinical findings and histopathology of coumarin-induced hepatotoxicity. Results The retrospective analysis revealed eight cases of phenprocoumon-induced hepatotoxicity, including three cases of (sub-) acute liver failure which resulted in two orthotopic liver transpl…

MORT1/FADD is involved in liver regeneration

2006

AIM: To explore the role of the adaptor molecule in liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy (PH). METHODS: We used transgenic mice expressing an N-terminal truncated form of MORT1/FADD under the control of the albumin promoter. As previously shown, this transgenic protein abrogated CD95- and CD120a-mediated apoptosis in the liver. Cyclin A expression was detected using Western blotting. ELISA and RT-PCR were used to detect IL-6 and IL-6 mRNA, respectively. DNA synthesis in liver tissue was measured by BrdU staining. RESULTS: Resection of 70% of the liver was followed by a reduced early regenerative response in the transgenic group at 36 h. Accordingly, 36 h after hepatectomy, cyclin A …

Mature cystic teratoma of the ovary with struma and benign Brenner tumor: a case report with immunohistochemical characterization.

2002