Pralatrexate, a novel class of antifol with high affinity for the reduced folate carrier-type 1, produces marked complete and durable remissions in a diversity of chemotherapy refractory cases of T-cell lymphoma Based on the most recent surveillance epidemiology and end results registry data (Morton et al, 2005), it is estimated that there are 114 548 cases of lymphoid neoplasms per year in the United States, of which 87 666 (about 76%) are B-cell lymphoid neoplasms and 10 042 are Hodgkin lymphoma. Only 5-6% of lymphoid malignancies (6228 cases per year) are T/natural killer (NK) cell neoplasms. A series of other studies have found T-cell lymphomas (TCLs) to constitute a small fraction of total non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) in the US, with reports typically ranging from 10 to 15% (Devesa & Fears, 1992) In general, TCLs carry a worse prognosis than B-cell lymphomas. In a retrospective analysis of sequential Groupe d'Etudes des Lymphomes de l'Adulte trials for aggressive lymphomas (Gisselbrecht et al, 1998), the 5-year survival rate for patients with 1, 2 or 3 risk factors with B-versus TCL was 63% vs. 60%, 53% vs. 36% and 35% vs. 23% respectively. Similar adverse results for TCL were also observed for the rate of complete remission (CR). Furthermore, the International Lymphoma Study Group classification project found that peripheral TCL (PTCL) and precursor T-lymphoblastic leukaemia/lymphoma (T-ALL) had some of the worst outcomes of any subtype of lymphoma, with a 5-year survival rate of 26% following treatment with standard doxorubicin containing regimens (Rudiger et al, 2002). There are indolent subtypes of TCL, such as mycosis fungoides and primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), which do not follow this universally poor prognosis. Among the aggressive TCLs,

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Heparin‐like tetrasaccharides 1−3, differing in their sulfation pattern at position 6 of the glucosamine units, were synthesised. The three compounds are putative ligands for fibroblast growth factors and have the unusual sequence (GlcN‐IdoA). They were obtained from two common disaccharide precursors by a versatile synthetic procedure.

Isometric contracting protoplasmic veins of Physarum polycephalum show cycling patterns of cytoplasmic F-actin, dependent on their oscillating contraction behaviour (minute rhythms). The process of fibrillogenesis represents a parallel arrangement of F-actin chains ("plasma filaments, microfilaments") during the isometric contraction phase. A part of the results of the present work corroborates previous results on stretch-activated veins which showed that the fibrillar form of F-actin reflects the isometric contracted state. During isometric relaxation phase, a disaggregation of the fibrillar pattern takes place and is accompanied by a deparallelisation of F-actin chains. Therefore, the isometric relaxed state of cytoplasmic actomyosin is non-fibrillar in nature. Thus, the morphologically detectable fibrillar form of cytoplasmic actomyosin, according to physiological interpretation, is solely representative of the isometric contracted state. The question whether assembly-disassembly processes, e.g. G equilibrium F-actin-transformation, play a role in the contraction-relaxation cycle is discussed.

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