Separation and study of the range of plasminogen isoforms in patients with prostate cancer.

Using affinity chromatography, two-dimensional electrophoresis, and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, plasminogen isoforms were separated and identified in blood plasma. Healthy donors and patients with prostate cancer in various stages of development were included in the studied sample. With the development of prostate cancer, four additional specific plasminogen isoforms are registered in blood plasma; they are characterized by lower molecular weights and higher pI values compared to isoforms found in the control group.

Compensatory mechanisms in patients with benign intracranial hypertension syndrome.

135 patients from 16 to 59 years old with benign intracranial hypertension syndrome (BIH) due to postinflammatory processes (A), venous outflow disorders (V), and endocrinological disorders (G) were investigated by CT, MRI, MRI-Ag, carotid-Ag and constant pressure infusion test. All the obtained data were analyzed and possible relationships between the parameters of CSF dynamics and the clinical data were evaluated. Correlative analysis of the obtained data was performed and the main mechanisms of compensation of BIH syndrome were established. In patients of group A disturbances of CSF absorption system with high level of CSF outflow resistance (R) and secondary elevation of brain elastance (EL) were common. In patients of this group venous disorders were of secondary nature and appeared in a later period of the disease. The patients of group V showed increased intrasinus pressure, which correlated to high R and EL. In patients of group G we found the signs of CSF hyper-production with high level of EL. Increased R in patients of this group seemed to be a secondary reaction. The investigation identified the main stages of evolution and compensation of hypertension in the patients with BIH syndrome. The obtained data may be used in optimizing the conservative therapy and indications for lumboperitoneal shunting.

[Outer membrane proteins in the characterization of salmonellae of various origins]. / Belki naruzhnoi membrany v kharakteristike sal'monell razlichnogo proiskhozhdeniia.

Outer membrane proteins have been studied in 76 Salmonella strains isolated from various sources and differing in their sensitivity to antibiotics, the presence of R-plasmids and a number of enzymatic properties. The outer membranes have been isolated by the modified method of L. W. Coulton and D. T. F. Wan. The study of the isolated proteins has been carried out by means of gel and disc electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel with sodium dodecyl sulfate according to K. Weber and M. Osborn. The composition of the proteinograms thus obtained has revealed the presence of essential differences between hospital strains and cultures isolated from animals and from the environment in sporadic infections, as well as between strains belonging to different serovars. The possibility of using the characterization of outer membrane proteins of salmonellae in epidemiological investigations is discussed.

[Significance of the antibiotic resistance of the causative agents of salmonellosis in its epidemiology and the procedure for controlling the infection]. / Znachenie antibiotikorezistentnosti vozbuditelei sal'monelleza v épidemiologii i taktika bor'by s infektsiei.

Antibiotic resistance of a wide set of strains (1501) of different serovars (69) was studied and the nature of the resistance was determined. Virulent bacteriophages designed with regard to the biological properties of the isolates were considered as possible agents for the control of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. It was shown that multiple resistance to antibacterial drugs was mainly characteristic of the serovar of S. typhimurium. In Gorky and its region, strains carrying R plasmids determining the resistance to tetracycline and chloramphenicol with a molecular weight of 58-64 Md predominated. The antibiotic-resistant strains were dangerous from the epidemiological point of view. The use of the bacteriophages is advisable for the treatment of patients, sanation of bacterial carriers or decontamination of disease sources and prophylactic phaging with regard to the epidemiological indications for preventing group diseases.

[Comparative evaluation of biological properties of Salmonella typhimurium strains of different origin and genetic nature of resistance to antibiotics]. / Sravnitel'noe izuchenie biologicheskikh svoistv shtammov Salmonella typhimurium razlichnogo proiskhozhdeniia i geneticheskoi prirody ikh rezistentnosti k antibiotikam.

The results obtained in the comparative study of the biological characteristics of Salmonella typhimurium strains of different origin are presented. The circulation of two biovariants differing in a number of biological characteristics, mainly in their susceptibility to antibiotics, has been shown. R-plasmids, mostly with the markers of resistance to tetracycline and with a molecular weight of 64 Md, have been isolated from "hospital" and "sporadic" strains possessing multiple antibiotic resistance.

[Serological heterogeneity of the immune response to the administration of a multicomponent meningococcal vaccine]. / Serologicheskaia geterogennost' immunogo otveta na vvedenie meningokokkovoi polikomponentnoi vaktsiny.

The characteristic feature of meningococcal polycomponent vaccine is the serological heterogeneity of immune response to the injection of this vaccine, which is due to the fact that the vaccine contains antigens to antibodies detected in meningococcal antisera of all known serogroups: A, B, C, D, X, Y, Z, 29-E and W-135. The hyperimmunization of rabbits with meningococcal polycomponent vaccine results in the formation of antibodies to more than 20 different meningococcal cell-wall antigens occurring in different combinations in 23 strains isolated from patients and in museum strains of every known meningococcal serogroup, as well as antibodies to serogroup A meningococcal lipopolysaccharide. The above-mentioned heterogeneity of immune response to the injection of meningococcal vaccine is observed in the hyperimmunization of rabbits, in the vaccination of humans in a single injection and can be detected in immune sera by the precipitation test, by counter and two-dimensional electrophoresis and by the passive hemagglutination test with erythrocytes sensitized with group-specific polysaccharides.

[Bactericidal antibodies to meningococcal serogroups A, B and C in persons inoculated with a polycomponent meningococcal vaccine]. / Bakteritsidnye antitela k meningokokkam serogrupp A, B i C u privitykh polikomponentnoi meningokokkovoi vaktsinoi.

Three groups consisting of 56, 55 and 57 subjects were immunized with polycomponent meningococcal vaccine incorporating microbial cell-wall substance in the polymeric form. The vaccine was introduced in doses of 0.25 ml, 0.5 ml and 1.0 ml, respectively, which corresponded to 100 microns, 200 microns and 400 microns of the dry substance of the vaccine. Each of 53 subjects in the control group received placebo (physiological saline) in a dose of 0.5 ml. Serum specimens were taken from all vaccinees prior to injection and on days 21-24. After the injection of the vaccine in a dose of 0.25 ml the arithmetical mean of the antimeningococcal titers increased approximately 70-fold to serogroup A, 20-fold to serogroup B and 120-fold to serogroup C, and after the injection of the vaccine in doses of 0.5 ml and 1.0 ml the titers increased 225-fold, 80-fold and 480-fold, respectively. The fact of the formation of bactericidal antibodies to serogroup B meningococci is particularly noteworthy.

[Relation between the results of gel filtration and electrophoresis of serotype A and G meningococcal polysaccharides]. / Sootnoshenie pokazatelei gel'-filtratsii i élektroforeza meningokokkovykh polisakharidov serogrupp A i C.

Meningococcal polysaccharides, serogroups A and C, produced for the vaccinal prophylaxis of meningococcal infection, were found to have pronounced electrophoretic homogeneity in their movement towards the anode in the process of immunoelectrophoresis in agarose gel with pH 8.6. In gel filtration through Sepharose 4B the serologically active substance of meningococcal polysaccharides, groups A and C, was eluted in a wide range of Kd values from 0 to 0.9. The immunoelectrophoresis of the samples isolated in gel filtration and having definite Kd values indicated that the regular increase of electrophoretic mobility towards anode occurred as the size or weight of molecules decreased.

[Classification of precipitates formed by meningococcal group antigens during counterimmunoelectrophoresis]. / Klassifikatsiia pretsipitatov, obrazuemykh gruppovymi antigenami meningokokkov pri vstrechnom immunoélektroforeze.

In counter immunoelectrophoresis (CIE) of group meningococcal polysaccharides and meningococcal diagnostic group-specific antisera the manifestation of precipitate formation depended on the concentration of the antigen: with the increase of the group polysaccharide concentration the reaction became less pronounced up to complete disappearance of the precipitate, which could be the cause of pseudonegative reaction. Precipitates formed in the CIE of group polysaccharides differed in their form and appearance. To evaluate the CIE results, the classification of the precipitates has been proposed by dividing them into 3 categories differing in their appearance. The category of the precipitate indicates the specificity of the reaction. CIE has allowed one to reveal the immunological heterogeneity of meningococcal group polysaccharides.

[Immunochemical study of meningococcal proteins]. / Immunokhimicheskoe izuchenie belkov meningokokkov.

The peptide composition and the molecular weight of peptides were determined in meningococci of serogroup A (7 strains), serogroup B (7 strains; of these, 4 strains belonged to serotype 2), serogroup C (4 strains) and serogroups D, X. Y and Z (1 strain each) by means of electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel with sodium dodecyl sulfate. All serogroup A strains were found to contain 2 main peptides with molecular weights of 39,000 and 45,000 daltons; molecular weights of peptides in other serogroups varied in different strains. In group B and C meningococci, besides the reference strains of serotype 2, 4 more strains with peptide characteristics allowing to consider these strains belonging to serotype 2 were detected. The serotype-specific high-molecular protein preparation, purified to a considerable extent from lipopolysaccharide and hydrocarbons, was obtained from serogroup B strain, serotype 2. This preparation, when used for the immunization of rabbits, induced the formation of serotype-specific antibodies. The high-molecular protein preparation, serotype 2, was found to contain 5 individual antigenic components.

[Evaluation of the immunogenicity of meningococcal vaccines in experiments on mice]. / Otsenka immunogennosti meningokokkovykh vaktsin v opytakh na myshakh.

The immunogenicity of 2 meningococcal vaccines, multicomponent vaccine produced at the Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera in Moscow and polysaccharide vaccine obtained from Merck Sharp & Dohme (USA), was evaluated on experimental meningococcal sepsis in mice, produced by the injection of meningococcal culture in mucin suspension. The protective effect of these 2 vaccines, expressed in terms of ED50, was 0.28 +/- 0.12 for the multicomponent vaccine and 0.25 +/- 0.24 for the polysaccharide vaccine; the challenge dose used in the test was 10 LD50 of the culture. The multicomponent vaccine gave the maximum immunological effect in a dose of 8 micrograms, while higher or lower doses induced a lesser increase in antibody titer and thus gave lower protection to mice against infection.

[Model of meningococcal sepsis in mice]. / Model' meningokokkovogo sepsisa na myshakh.

The authors studied a possibility of obtaining experimental meningococcus sepsis model on mice. The use of cyclophosphane, iron compounds, yolk medium produced no significant organism. When 4--5% mucine was injected intraperitoneally together with meningococcus culture mice died with sepsis phenomena. Differences were revealed in the sensitivity of linear and mongrel mice to meningococcus infection--AKR mice proved to be more sensitive. At the same time it was found that mongrel mice weighing from 10 to 12 g could be used to induce meningococcus sepsis.

[Study of molecular heterogeneity and chemical nature of polymeric components of the Meningococcus cell wall]. / Izuchenie molekuliarnoi geterogennosti i khimicheskoi prirody polymernykh komponentov kletochnoi stenki meningokokkov.

The high-molecular fraction of substances of the cell wall of meningococci, groups A and B, isolated in free volume in gel filtration through sepharose 4B and containing both group and intergroup antigens proved to be consisting of 2 subfractions in gel-filtration through Bio-Gel A-150m. Molecular weight of the first was within the range of 100--150 million dalton, and of the second--of 3 to 100 million dalton. In dissociation in sodium deoxycholate the high molecular fraction complex compound of the cell wall of meningococcus strain, group A, isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient suffering from meningitis broke down into 5 fragments differing in chemical nature and mol wt. There were revealed protein and protein-lipopolysaccharide components with a relatively high mol wt. polypeptide components and low molecular residues of the initial lipopolysaccharide.