Cellular contaminants of adeno-associated virus vector stocks can enhance transduction.

Transduction efficiency of different types of recombinant (r)AAV-2 based vectors preparations markedly differed, with apparently no correlation with the replicative titers. Using HeLa cells as target for transduction, 105 and 30 infectious units were necessary to observe one transductant using respectively cesium-chloride-purified rAAV and crude lysates of producer cells obtained by sonication. The purified vectors were however able to transduce HEK-193 cells efficiently, but transgene expression was detected with some delay compared with crude lysates. The unexpected high transduction efficiency of sonicated crude lysates was due to virally mediated gene transfer, since similar sonicated crude lysates, but with no AAV rep and cap genes, did not lead to detection of transgene products after incubation with HeLa cells. Furthermore, sonicated cellular extracts of 293 or 293/T cells given in trans stimulate transduction of HeLa cells by purified rAAV. In contrast, neither extracts from the adenovirus E1-transformed 911 cell line, nor from other cell lines not harboring any adenovirus gene, had enhancing effect on rAAV-mediated transduction. These data suggest that 293 sonicated extracts contain factors which stimulate rAAV-mediated transduction of cells that are normally poorly transduced and offer a system to identify such factors and to characterize further the steps limiting the transfer of gene by AAV vectors.

No change in repair capacity of mouse lung irradiated three months after a single dose of cyclophosphamide.

The repair capacity of mouse lung was determined at 3 months after a single i.p. injection of cyclophosphamide (Cy) at a maximally tolerated dose of 275 mg/kg. Mice were irradiated to the whole thorax only with 1, 2, 9, or 15 fractions of X-rays using doses/fraction ranging from 1.2 to 11 Gy. Breathing rate (breaths per minute), histology and pulmonary mortality were used to assess lung damage. Raw breathing rate data were converted to quantal response data by scoring the number of mice in each dose group in each fractionation schedule with a breathing rate 1.3 times the breathing rate of control mice. Dose-response curves of mortality and the converted breathing rate data were constructed at 15 weeks after irradiation (approximately 28 weeks after drug treatment) fitted by logit analysis and 50% effective doses with 95% confidence limits obtained. Values of alpha/beta were obtained by using the direct analysis method of H. D. Thames et al. (Int. J. Radiat. Biol., 49:999-1009, 1986). The alpha/beta for mice given Cy 3 months before radiation was 3.69 Gy (95% confidence limits, 2.83, 4.69 Gy) and 3.06 Gy (95% confidence limits, 2.31, 3.99 Gy) for the lethality data and breathing rate data, respectively. These alpha/beta values are in good agreement with the previously published ranges of alpha/beta of 3 to 4 Gy for mouse lung not given Cy previously. Because the repair capacity of the target cells of a tissue govern the fractionation response and choice of fractionation regimen in clinical radiotherapy, these data indicate that the fractionation regimen used can remain the same as that used in non-drug-treated lungs when the lung is irradiated 3 months after exposure to Cy.

Genetic code and optimal resistance to the effects of mutations.

This paper deals with the notion of resistance of the genetic code to the effects of mutations. We measure the resistance of a group of t codons as the number of pairs of those which differ from each other in only one of their three bases. We find for each value of t the maximum possible value of the resistance and we describe some groups of codons giving this value. Important examples of such configurations are found in the genetic code, among these are the groups of synonymous codons, as observed elsewhere, and the cluster of codons which have an hydrophobic amino acid for translation.

[Action of dydrogesterone in postpubertal menstruation disorders]. / Action de la dydrogestérone dans les troubles des règles post-pubertaires.

Seventy-four post-pubertal young women with menstrual disturbances of a functional nature were treated with 20 mg of dydrogesterone per day from the 16th to the 25th day of the cycle for three cycles. Overall efficacy was considered satisfactory, results being significantly more positive with regard to disturbances in the duration of the cycle rather than excessively heavy periods. The authors draw attention to the possibility of the restoration of luteal function in a patient treated with dydrogesterone and the validity of temperature curve and plasma progesterone levels in this context.