Successful treatment of severe complicated measles with non-specific transfer factor.

Severe complicated measles has a high mortality rate and no specific treatment. Ten patients with complicated measles - 9 infants with respiratory failure and a 15 year old boy with encephalitis - received immunotherapy with Non-specific Transfer Factor (NTF). The patients had variable degrees of undernourishment and were severely ill when immunotherapy was started. 8/9 cases with respiratory failure were cured. One died of bronchoaspiration while recovering from the measles. The case with encephalitis showed no neurological sequelae two weeks after receiving the last dose of NTF. Treatment of complicated measles with NTF in these patients seemed very effective and deserves further trial.

[MYC protein and proteins antigenically related with MYC in acute lymphoblastic leukemia]. / Estudio de la proteína MYC y de proteínas antigénicamente relacionadas a MYC en leucemia aguda linfoblástica (LAL).

The gross structure and the expression of the c-myc oncogene were analyzed in primary cells from 15 acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients. Southern blot analysis was used to detect possible alterations in the structure of this gene. Alterations (rearrangement and/or amplification) were observed in seven of the 15 samples studied. When the expression of MYC protein was evaluated by Western blot analysis, we found no correlation between c-myc gene alterations and p67 c-myc, which was expressed in the 15 samples studied. The analysis of expression also revealed various MYC-related proteins (115, 110 and 60 kD). These proteins were expressed at variable levels in all leukemic cells, other transformed cells, and in normal peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) induced to proliferate with interleukin 2. We detected the 110 kD and 40 kD MYC-related proteins in fresh normal PBL and in samples from patients in complete remission. These studies indicate that the c-myc alterations and protein expression are unrelated to percentage of leukemic blasts, cell morphology or immunophenotype. Our work shows that the expression of MYC-related proteins from 115, 60 and 40 kD is associated with mechanisms of cell activation, and perhaps these proteins may play a role in cellular proliferation-transformation.

Effects of Histoplasma capsulatum products on the functional activity of alveolar macrophages.

The possibility that Histoplasma capsulatum may affect the activities of alveolar macrophages through products of either secretion or lysis was examined. Varying amounts of histoplasmin (HP), the filtrate of cultures of H. capsulatum, were added to monolayer cultures of alveolar macrophages of Wistar rats, and the effects of the filtrate on viability, ingestion rate, random migration, adhesive properties and microbial killing capacity were evaluated. No clear cytotoxic or cytopathogenic effects were produced at any dose tested. The endocytic rate was enhanced when HP (0.2 micrograms) was added, the effect being due to the recruitment of non-phagocytosing cells. Alveolar macrophages that had remained nonadherent after 3 h of incubation adhered to glass slides after HP was added. Dose-dependent inhibition of random migration of macrophages was produced with the addition of HP. However, the microbial killing capacity was not modified significantly at any dose of the H. capsulatum product.