[West-Nile-Virus infections in 12 horses in east-central Germany]. / West-Nil-Virus-Infektion bei 12 Pferden in Mitteldeutschland.

PURPOSE AND AIM: The presenting complaints, clinical signs, diagnostic evaluation, therapy, and outcome of 12 horses with clinically apparent West-Nile-Virus (WNV) infection are described. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Case series RESULTS: The adult horses (age 6-18 years, 7 mares, 5 geldings) from Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt were presented with various clinical histories between September 2018 and September 2020. All horses were presented in August or September and no horse was vaccinated against WNV. Fever as the most common general clinical sign was present in 8/12 horses. The most common neurological signs were muscle fasciculations (11/12 horses), ataxia (8/12 horses), hyperesthesia and head tilt (6/12 horses each). Diagnosis of WNV infection was confirmed by demonstrating IgM antibody and neutralizing antibody production in all horses; 2 euthanized horses also tested positive by PCR. Therapy was symptomatic and primarily included non-steroidal anti-inflammatories or dexamethasone as well as fluid therapy. Duration of hospitalization was 7.5 days on average. According to their owners, seven horses recovered completely, while information was missing for 2 horses. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: In eastern-central Germany, WNV-encephalomyelitis must be considered a differential diagnosis for unvaccinated horses with acute neurologic disease occurring in summer and late summer. The reported clinical signs and the outcome of therapy are mostly congruent with reports from North America and other European countries.

Generation and first characterization of TRDC-knockout pigs lacking γδ T cells.

The TRDC-locus encodes the T cell receptor delta constant region, one component of the γδ T cell receptor which is essential for development of γδ T cells. In contrast to peptide recognition by αß T cells, antigens activating γδ T cells are mostly MHC independent and not well characterized. Therefore, the function of γδ T cells and their contribution to protection against infections is still unclear. Higher numbers of circulating γδ T cells compared to mice, render the pig a suitable animal model to study γδ T cells. Knocking-out the porcine TRDC-locus by intracytoplasmic microinjection and somatic cell nuclear transfer resulted in healthy living γδ T cell deficient offspring. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that TRDC-KO pigs lack γδ T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and spleen cells. The composition of the remaining leucocyte subpopulations was not affected by the depletion of γδ T cells. Genome-wide transcriptome analyses in PBMC revealed a pattern of changes reflecting the impairment of known or expected γδ T cell dependent pathways. Histopathology did not reveal developmental abnormalities of secondary lymphoid tissues. However, in a vaccination experiment the KO pigs stayed healthy but had a significantly lower neutralizing antibody titer as the syngenic controls.

The potential risk of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients--results from a prospective randomized trial of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG-07).

PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact that pre- and postoperatively administered chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and fluorouracil (CMF) and postoperative chemotherapy vs. postoperative chemotherapy alone have on long-term prognosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The ABCSG conducted a nationwide randomized phase III trial in high-risk endocrine non-responsive breast cancer patients comparing pre- and postoperative chemotherapy containing CMF as preoperative treatment vs. postoperative chemotherapy alone between 1991 and 1999. From 1996 the ABCSG-07 protocol was amended to also allow randomization of high-risk endocrine-responsive patients. Of 423 eligible patients with high-risk primary breast cancer, 203 patients were randomly assigned to preoperatively receive three cycles of CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, fluorouracil; 600/40/600 mg/m(2)) intravenously on day 1 and 8, while 195 patients received postoperative chemotherapy alone. In both groups, three cycles of CMF were given initially, and another three cycles of CMF were administered in node-negative patients, whereas node-positive patients received three cycles of EC (epirubicin, cyclophosphamide; 70/600 mg/m(2)). RESULTS: Overall response rate to preoperative chemotherapy with three cycles of CMF was 56.2%; complete pathological response was achieved in 12 patients (5.9%). Recurrence-free survival was significantly better in patients receiving chemotherapy postoperatively (HR 0.7, 0.515-0.955; P = 0.024). No survival difference was observed between the two therapy groups (HR 0.800, 0.563-1.136; P = 0.213). DISCUSSION: Preoperative chemotherapy with CMF has to be considered as insufficient in high-risk breast cancer patients. Delayed surgery and anthracycline-based chemotherapy result in shorter recurrence-free survival but not overall survival.

Lumpectomy plus tamoxifen or anastrozole with or without whole breast irradiation in women with favorable early breast cancer.

PURPOSE: In women with favorable early breast cancer treated by lumpectomy plus tamoxifen or anastrazole, it remains unclear whether whole breast radiotherapy is beneficial. METHODS AND MATERIAL: Between January 1996 and June 2004, the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG) randomly assigned 869 women to receive breast radiotherapy +/- boost (n = 414) or not (n = 417) after breast-conserving surgery (ABCSG Study 8A). Favorable early breast cancer was specified as tumor size <3 cm, Grading 1 or 2, negative lymph nodes, positive estrogen and/or progesterone receptor status, and manageable by breast-conserving surgery. Breast radiotherapy was performed after lumpectomy with 2 tangential opposed breast fields with mean 50 Gy, plus boost in 71% of patients with mean 10 Gy, in a median of 6 weeks. The primary endpoint was local relapse-free survival; further endpoints were contralateral breast cancer, distant metastases, and disease-free and overall survival. The median follow-up was 53.8 months. RESULTS: The mean age was 66 years. Overall, there were 21 local relapses, with 2 relapses in the radiotherapy group (5-y rate 0.4%) vs. 19 in the no-radiotherapy group (5.1%), respectively (p = 0.0001, hazard ratio 10.2). Overall relapses occurred in 30 patients, with 7 events in the radiotherapy group (5-y rate 2.1%) vs. 23 events in the no-radiotherapy group (6.1%) (p = 0.002, hazard ratio 3.5). No significant differences were found for distant metastases and overall survival. CONCLUSION: Breast radiotherapy +/- boost in women with favorable early breast cancer after lumpectomy combined with tamoxifen/anastrazole leads to a significant reduction in local and overall relapse.