Nagoya Journal of Medical Science

Geno- and phenotypes in HLA antigen were compared between 86 bladder cancer patients and 95 healthy contoris. Lower frequencies of HLA-A 10 and HLA-B7 and higher frequency of HLA-B 12 were found in bladder cancer patients without statistical significance. as compared to the healthy controls. HLA-AWI9 and HLA-B40 were commonly found in two cases of bladder cancer in a family of 6 members. Since two other members of the family had the same HLA antigen of HLA-AW19 and HLA-B40. these antigens are assumed not to be cancer-specific. but to be familial in nature. Further investigations are undoubtedly required selecting the controls by virtue of some defined geographic relationship to the patients.

Diffuse thickening of glomerular basement membranes (GBM) was optically observed in the renal grafts of 15 patients (21 specimens) among 70 recipients (128 specimens). Most of these specimens with diffuse GBM thickening were examined ultrastructurally. All cases with the above change were only found in allografts. The correlation was observed between the degree of GBM thickening and the clinical course. which can be classified into 3 groups. Group I showed a marked thickening of subendothelial spaces of GBM due to the accumulation of electron-lucent material. The cases of Group I fell into renal failure within relatively sWort periods because of either continued or repeated acute rejections (4 cases at 10 weeks to 15 months after transplantation). Group II showed a relatively mild thickening ofsubendothelial spaces and mild thickening oflaminae densae accompanied by chronic rejections (7 cases at 9 months to 10 years and 10 months after transplantation). Group III showed glomerulonephritis-like changes and chronic clinical courses (3 cases with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN)-like change and one case with membranous nephropathy (MN)-like change). The GBM thickening was milder in Group II than in Group I. Mesangiolysis was found in both groups, which was, however, milder in Group II. The one case with MN-like change in Group III was considered to be complicated with MN under chronic rejection. As to the 3 cases with MPGN-like changes in Group III, it can not be concluded at a preset, whether they are to be attributed to a special form of chronic rejection itself or to a chronic rejection on which glomerulonephritis or some other factor(s) may be superimposed.

The antitumor activities ofseventeen antitumor alkylating agents have been studied in the xenograft of human mammary carcinoma transplanted in nude mice (MX-1). The drugs employed in this study were; cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-l-nitrosourea (CCNU), 1-(2-chloroethyl)- 3-(4-methylcyclohexyl)-1-nitrosourea (me-CCNU), 2-[3-(2-ehloroethyl)-3-nitrosoureido]-2-deoxy- D-glucopyranose (chlorozotocin, or DCNU), 3[(4-amino-2-methyl-5-pyrimidinyl)methyl]-1-(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea hydrochloride (ACNU), 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-(methyl α-D-glucopyranos-6-yl)-1-nitrosourea (MCNU), 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-(β-D-glucopyranosyl)-1-nitrosourea(GANU), 4-[bis(2- chloroethyl)amino]-L-phenylalanine (L-PAM), chlorambucil, busulfan, Bis(3-methylsulfonyloxypropyl)amine p-toluenesulfonate (864-T), N, N', N"-triethylenimino thiophosphoramide (thio-TEPA), carbazilquinone, dibromomannitol, procarbazine and 5-(3, 3-dimethyl-1-triazeno) imidazole-4- carboxamide (DTIC). Cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, chlorozotocin, ACNU, MCNU, GANU, 864-T, thio-TEPA, carbazilquinone and DTIC were administered intravenously through a tail vein, and the others were given intraperitoneally. Among these seventeen antitumor alkylating agents, the most active compounds (maximum rate of tumor regression : ≥9O%) are cyclophosphamide, ACNU, L-PAM, chlorambucil, thio-TEPA, carbazilquinone and dibromomannitol. Another group of compounds showed moderate activity (maximum rate of tumor regression: 89-50%), including ifosfamide, CCNU, MCNU, GANU, busulfan, 864-T and procarbazine. The remaining three compounds showed less than moderate activity (≤49%) and were therefore considered to be inactive. These results in nude mouse-human tumor xenograft system correspond to clinically observed patterns of chemotherapy sensitivity in patients with breast cancer.

Death certificates in Japan from 1969 to 1976 were analyzed. Higher mortality rates from Hodgkin's disease were found in the areas along Shibushi Bay, on Yaku Island and on some other small islands of Kagoshima, Nagasaki. and Miyazaki prefectures (range ofstandardized mortality ratios: 331-2.230). No apparent aggregation of high mortality areas of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was found although mortality from all malignant lymphomas combined was also generally high in these prefectures in Kyushu. The high mortality from Hodgkin's disease in Kagoshima and Nagasaki prefectures was presumably not due to a bias in clinical diagnosis as far as Japanese autopsy reports (1958-76) were analyzed. It wassuggested that etiologic factors for Hodgkin's disease exist which are specific to these prefectures, and especially to some small coastal localities in the southern Kyushu prefectures. (Hodgkin's disease, Japan, Mortality data, Autopsy reports)

Elastase is an elastin lytic enzyme that inhibits the deposition of fat on arterial walls and suppresses fat buildup. The changes in the renal glomerular basement membrane were observed over 30days of elastase administration in N. Y. S. mice (experimental congenital diabetic animals). and the treated group showed a lessening in the thickening of the basement membrane. The thichness of the basement membrane in treated animals was 2158.7 ± 96.2 Aagainst 2743.8 ± 168.6 Å in the control. Thus, a significant difference (P < 0.01) resulted between the groups of N. S. Y. mice. and elastase is presumed to act upon the metabolism of the renal glomerular basement membrane in them.