We studied the effect of dipeptide gamma-d-Glu-d-Trp (thymodepressin) on migration of CD34+ hemopoietic precursors and their direct adhesion to fibronectin in tumor-bearing mice on days 8, 11, 15, and 17 of tumor growth and on expression of CXCR-4 (CD184+) to SDF-1 and integrin beta1 (CD29+) by bone marrow cells. In tumor-bearing mice treated with gamma-d-Glu-d-Trp, the percent of CD34+ hemopoietic precursors in the peripheral blood considerably decreased throughout the observation period; the content of CD34+ hemopoietic precursors in the tumor tissue was 2-3-fold below the control against the background of increased content of CD34+ cells in the bone marrow. In animals treated with the peptide, the content of cells expressing CXCR-4 in the peripheral blood, bone marrow, and tumor tissue significantly decreased, while the percent of cells expressing integrin beta1 receptor (CD29+) in the bone marrow increased 2-fold, which was paralleled by an almost 2-fold increase in the percent of cells binding to fibronectin. We hypothesized that dipeptide gamma-d-Glu-d-Trp suppressed mobilization/migration of CD34+ hemopoietic precursor cells from the bone marrow to the peripheral blood of tumor-bearing mice.

We studied the effect of thymodepressin on migration and adhesion of mouse hemopoietic CD34+ cells under normal conditions and under the effect of granulocytic CSF. It was found that the peptide reduced the absolute number of CD34+ hemopoietic cells in the peripheral blood, increased the percent of cells bound to fibronectin and expressing receptor for integrin beta1 (CD29+) in the bone marrow of mice under normal conditions and after stimulation with granulocytic CSF, and reduced the relative number of cells carrying CXCR4 receptor for stromal factor-1 (CD184+) in the bone marrow (CD34+CD184+) and blood (CD184+) of mice stimulated with granulocytic CSF. The results suggest that thymodepressin can inhibit migration of CD34+ cells from bone marrow into peripheral blood under conditions of normal and granulocytic CSF-stimulated hemopoiesis.

A case of isolated sarcoidosis of cervical lymph nodes is reported that was first erroneously interpreted as parathyroid adenoma. The patient was a 70 year-old woman presenting with hypercalcemia and elevated blood parathormone level. The ultrasound study showed the presence of a tissue mass measuring 1.5 cm in the projection of the inferior right parathyroid gland. The scintigraphic study with 99mTc MIBI demonstrated the accumulation of the radiopharmacological agent in the tissue mass that was identified as an adenoma of the parathyroid gland. The surgical removal of this neoplasm together with the adjacent lymph nodes resulted in the normalization of the blood calcium and parathormone levels. The histological study revealed sarcoidosis of lymph nodes in the absence of lesions in other organs. A literature review of the problem pertaining to hypercalcemia associated with sarcoidosis of cervical lymph nodes is presented with special reference to the difficulties encountered in differential diagnostics of this condition.