Depressed lymphokine activated killer cell activity in mycosis fungoides. A possible marker for aggressive disease.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 24 patients with mycosis fungoides were used to generate lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cells in vitro by culturing with recombinant interleukin 2. Patients with stage la mycosis fungoides were capable of generating normal levels of LAK cell activity, while patients with more active disease (stages IB to IV) had depressed LAK activity. The ability of these patients' cells to respond in a proliferation assay to various mitogens was similar to that of controls, with the exception of patients in the terminal phase of their illness. Patients with active disease who were unable to generate LAK activity were capable of responding in a proliferation assay to interleukin 2. The results of this study suggest that depressed LAK cell activity in patients with mycosis fungoides may serve as an indicator of a more aggressive disease state.

Cutaneous botryomycosis in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

A patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome presented with multiple pruritic papules and nodules over the trunk and extremities. Biopsy specimens from two of these lesions contained granules within abscesses of the papillary dermis. There were numerous gram-positive cocci within the granules. Culture of one lesion failed to produce growth. A mouse inoculated with tissue from a lesion revealed no evidence of sepsis or organ involvement. The skin lesions showed no obvious response to systemic antimicrobial therapy but gradually resolved after treatment had been discontinued. Such lesions should be clinically distinguished from other cutaneous manifestations of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, such as Kaposi's sarcoma.

Herpes simplex virus vaccine: protection from stomatitis, ganglionitis, encephalitis and latency.

A mouse model system was developed for studying the pathogenesis of oral infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 and the protection offered by prior immunization with a nucleic acid-free vaccine. Of non-immunized mice, 95-100% developed ulcerative lesions 3-5 days following application of virus to abraded oral epithelial surfaces. Infection of the ipsilateral sensory (trigeminal) ganglion and the cerebellum occurred by day 2 and sequentially progressed to the contralateral ganglion by day 4 and to the cerebrum by day 5. Prior immunization of mice with an inactivated virus vaccine, and most importantly, with a vaccine free of nucleic acid, protected mice from subsequent oral virus infection. Protection was demonstrated by: (i) reduction in the incidence and severity of primary oral lesions; (ii) a decrease in the number of mice with acute ganglionic infection or dying of encephalitis; and (iii) a reduction in the incidence of latent trigeminal ganglionic infection.

Protection from oral herpes simplex virus infection by a nucleic acid-free virus vaccine.

The effect of immunization with inactivated herpes virus vaccines, including a vaccine free of all nucleic acid, was investigated in a mouse model system. Protection against oral lesions induced by herpes simplex virus type 1 was demonstrated by several criteria: (i) reduction in the incidence and severity of primary oral lesions; (ii) decrease in acute and latent infection of the regional sensory ganglia; and (iii) protection from viral encephalitis and death. The immune response of mice to the vaccine and to subsequent virus challenge was measured by following serum-neutralizing antibody titers.

Induction and maintenance of the antibody response by different forms of human serum albumin.

Various forms of human serum albumin (HSA) were compared in their ability to induce and maintain the antibody response. In an in vitro model system, antibody synthesis was induced spontaneously during the maintenance phase of the immune response--presumably by persisting antigen. When different lymph nodes (LN) of the same rabbit were primed simultaneously with different forms of HSA, the spontaneous responses obtained in cell cultures prepared from LN primed with high molecular weight forms of HSA were greater than the responses obtained in cell cultures prepared from similar LN primed with lower molecular weight forms of HSA. This difference in response was consistent regardless of the method employed in antigen preparation and persisted for many months. The in vitro results indicating that the antibody response would be maintained at a higher level in animals immunized with high molecular weight forms of antigen and that the method of preparation would not be of major significance were confirmed in vivo in a mouse system.