No abstract

A male sex-dependent protein fraction (MUP), consisting of four closely related proteins, was isolated from the urine of male Wistar rats. The amino acid composition of two of the components is described. Quantitation of this protein in plasma was performed by the Mancini technique. It was found that after nephrectomy the plasma level of this protein increased rapidly. The metabolic fate of this protein was studied with the aid of 131I labelled MUP. It was found that the kidneys actively concentrate this material, and excrete it into the urine. Among the organs, the skin seems to contribute particularly to the metabolic fate of MUP.

Abnormalities of immune status, particularly a high prevalence (about 50%) of thyroid autoantibodies, have been reported before in Turner syndrome. Results are conflicting as regards other abnormalities of immune fuction. Growth hormone (GH) has immunomodulatory effects, but results of its effects on GH-deficient children are inconsistent. In this study, 42 girls with Turner syndrome, aged 7.3-19 years, are investigated before, during and after 4 years of human GH therapy. Girls over 12 years old also received ethinyl oestradiol. The prevalence of antithyroid antibodies was 16.7% initially, 35.3% after 24-45 months and 48% after 4 years of therapy though, as there was no control group, it was difficult to conclude that GH was enhancing their appearance. Hypothyroidism was extremely uncommon, and the growth response was no different in those who had the antibodies from those who had not. There were no dramatic increases in prevalence of any of the other antibodies investigated, though the prevalence of parietal cell antibodies was higher than expected.

Because recent investigations showed that the use of isoniazid (INH) severely impaired the local immune reaction to intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in the bladder of guinea pigs, in this study the effect of INH in man has been investigated. Patients were treated with BCG with or without oral INH. The concentration of free INH in most urine samples of patients treated with BCG/INH was much higher (mean 38.0 +/- 60.9 micrograms INH/ml) than the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC; 0.1 microgram INH/ml), suggesting at least a bacteriostatic potential of the INH present. However, in vitro studies showed that these urinary concentrations of INH did not kill BCG organisms effectively, even at a concentration of 150 micrograms/ml for 24 h. After the fifth and sixth BCG instillations a significant increase in the concentration of cytokines (IL2, IL6, IL8 and TNFa), IgG and IgA antibodies to BCG and the number of leukocytes in urine was observed. The leukocytes mainly consisted of granulocytes, besides monocytes/macrophages and, in lower amounts, T- and B-lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells. The absolute number of granulocytes and the concentration of IgG antibodies after BCG instillation were significantly suppressed by INH, whereas INH appeared to have no effect on the urinary cytokine and IgA antibody concentrations or the total number and phenotype of the leukocytes present. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that INH does not impair the local immunological stimulation after BCG instillation in man as severely as was observed in the guinea pig and it may be expected that INH does not impair the antitumor efficacy of BCG.

Detection of liver cell membrane autoantibodies is routinely performed by immunofluorescence testing of patient sera on rabbit hepatocyte suspensions. We have investigated the possible use of cells from the PLC/PRF/5 human hepatoma cell-line. These cells were employed as substrate in an immunofluorescence test which was compared with the conventional rabbit hepatocyte assay. We found a close correlation between the results obtained with these different substrates on visual reading. We furthermore compared visual reading of immunofluorescence preparations with flow-cytometrical analysis of immunostained cell suspensions. The results with these different methods were largely confirmatory. The PLC/PRF/5 cells are easily available and should therefore be regarded as a highly valuable new substrate for detection of liver cell membrane autoantibodies. Flow cytometry appears to be a technically simple and reliable method for quantitative analysis.