Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0038002 (splenomegaly)
 9,873 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Leukosialin (also known as Ly48, CD43, and sialophorin) is a major cell surface sialoglycoprotein found on a variety of hematopoietically derived cells. The precise function of this molecule is poorly understood but it has been implicated in cell proliferation and intercellular adhesion. We developed a transgenic mouse model to assess leukosialin's function in vivo. Our approach was to alter mouse CD43 (mCD43) expression in the B-cell lineage where it is tightly regulated, by expressing it in peripheral B cells where it is normally absent. To drive expression of leukosialin in mature B cells, the immunoglobulin heavy chain enhancer was fused to the mCD43 gene. mCD43-immunoglobulin heavy chain enhancer transgenic mice display splenomegaly due to increased numbers of B cells. Transgenic B cells show a striking increase in their ability to survive in vitro compared to B cells from nontransgenic control mice. This prolonged survival is reflected in a decreased susceptibility to apoptosis. These observations suggest that mCD43 plays an important role in the regulation of B-cell survival. The alteration of the temporal expression, or "disregulation," of a gene in transgenic mice provides a general strategy for elucidating the in vivo role of other molecules involved in cell signaling and adhesion.
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PMID:Disregulation of leukosialin (CD43, Ly48, sialophorin) expression in the B-cell lineage of transgenic mice increases splenic B-cell number and survival. 783 40

We report major responses in 4 of 4 patients with hairy cell leukemia (HCL) who have recently been treated on a phase I trial with the recombinant immunotoxin LMB-2. The immunotoxin, designed to target CD25(+) malignancies, is composed of the Fv portion of the anti-Tac (anti-CD25) antibody, fused to a 38-kD truncated form of Pseudomonas exotoxin A, and has previously been called anti-Tac(Fv)-PE38. All 4 HCL patients were resistant to standard and salvage therapies for HCL, including 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (CdA) and interferon alpha, and all patients responded to LMB-2 after a single cycle. One patient treated with 2 cycles had a complete remission (CR), with regression of HCL cells from the blood and marrow and resolution of splenomegaly and pancytopenia. As is typical for patients in CR after treatment with CdA, minimal residual disease was detectable by flow cytometry of the bone marrow aspirate. This patient has not relapsed after 11 months. Three other patients had 98% to 99.8% reductions in malignant circulating cells. These results represent a proof of principal that targeted therapy with recombinant Fv-containing proteins can be clinically useful. LMB-2 may be an effective new therapy for patients with chemotherapy-resistant CD25(+) HCL.
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PMID:Responses in refractory hairy cell leukemia to a recombinant immunotoxin. 1055 43

Recently, remarkable progress has been made in developing effective combination drug therapies that can control but not cure retroviral replication. Even when effective, these drug regimens are toxic, they require demanding administration schedules, and resistant viruses can emerge. Thus the need for new gene-based therapies continues. In one such approach, capsid-targeted viral inactivation (CTVI), nucleases fused to viral coat proteins are expressed in infected cells and become incorporated during virion assembly. CTVI can eliminate infectious murine retrovirus titer in tissue culture. Here we describe transgenic mice expressing fusions of the Moloney murine leukemia virus (Mo-MuLV) Gag protein to staphylococcal nuclease. This work tests the protective effect and demonstrates in vivo proof-of-principle of CTVI in transgenic mice expressing endogenous proviral copies of Mo-MuLV. The antiviral protein-expressing mice are phenotypically normal, attesting to the lack of toxicity of the fusion protein. The Mo-MuLV infection was much less virulent in transgenic littermates than in nontransgenic littermates. Gag-nuclease expression reduced infectious titers in blood up to 10-fold, decreased splenomegaly and leukemic infiltration, and increased life spans up to 2.5-fold in transgenic relative to nontransgenic infected animals. These results suggest that gene therapies based on similar fusion proteins, designed to attack human immunodeficiency virus or other retroviruses, could provide substantial therapeutic benefits.
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PMID:Therapeutic effect of a Gag-nuclease fusion protein against retroviral infection in vivo. 1143 83

We report the anatomical findings of a case of horseshoe kidney, and analyze the associations between kidney position and surplus renal arteries in horseshoe kidneys found in Japanese autopsies in the past. The horseshoe kidney of our case fused at the lower poles of the original kidneys. Its right and left upper poles were at the middle region of the first and second lumbar vertebrae, respectively. The kidney was supplied by eight arteries. Our analysis of the correlation between the ascent of a horseshoe kidney and the number of surplus arteries found no significant association. However, there was a significant association between the region of the kidney where the surplus arteries entered and the location where they diverged from the aorta. Therefore, the ascent of a horseshoe kidney is not necessarily arrested because of the existence of many surplus arteries. After a horseshoe kidney partially ascends, the arteries which might become normal renal arteries are generated. In our case, we observed large splenomegaly, and noted that the left upper pole was the lowest compared with the horseshoe kidneys in the past autopsy reports. We suggest it is necessary to consider additional influences that determine the position of a horseshoe kidney.
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PMID:Associations between kidney position and surplus renal arteries in horseshoe kidney: case report and analysis. 2297 43