Haruo Miyagawa

Concentration and localization of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 in tissues of pancreatic cancer.

Carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 concentration in the tissue-extracts of cancerous and noncancerous pancreatic tissues were determined by radioimmunoassay. Pancreatic cancer tissues revealed significantly elevated CA 19-9 concentrations, when compared with chronic pancreatitis, normal adult pancreas, or fetal pancreas tissues. Metastatic liver tumors from pancreatic cancer also showed extremely high CA 19-9 concentrations, and there was no significant correlation between tissue CA 19-9 concentration and serum CA 19-9 level in patients with pancreatic cancer. In addition, positive localization of CA 19-9 was clearly observed in cancer cells of pancreatic cancerous tissues by immunohistochemical study, confirming the remarkable increase of CA 19-9 concentration in tissues of pancreatic cancer, although CA 19-9 was also partially found in non-malignant pancreatic tissues. The results indicated that CA 19-9 would be produced in great quantities by cancer cells in tissues of pancreatic cancer, and thus could be a valuable tumor associated antigen suggesting its clinical use as a tumor marker for cancer of the pancreas.

Role of lipid peroxidation and free radical scavengers on endotoxin shock

Abstract Experimental shock was induced by a single intravenous injection of 100 mg/kg of endotoxin. After the injection of endotoxin, systolic blood pressure was reduced and heart rate was increased. The activities of serum lysosomal enzymes, such as acid phosphatase and β-glucuronidase, were increased. Serum thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, which are important and damaging products of free radical lipid peroxidation, were significantly increased, and the serum α-tocopherol/cholesterol ratio was significantly decreased. These findings suggest that lipid peroxidation and vitamin E may play an important role in these pathological conditions.

Role of Free Radical Lipid Peroxidation in Burn and Endotoxin Shock

Enhanced free radical generation leading to lipid peroxidation has been claimed to be associated with various disorders (Bulkey, 1983). There is considerable indirect evidence supporting a role for oxygen radicals in circulatory shock. Crowell et al. (1969) and Cunningham and Keaveny (1978) reported that allopurinol, a competitive inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, substantially increased the survival rate of dogs subjected to hemorrhagic shock. Severe burns result in both local and systemic hemodynamic changes (Gilmore and Handford, 1956; Wolfe and Miller, 1976; Adams et al., 1981), as well as in endocrine (Turinsky et al., 1977), neuroendocrine (Cova and Glaviano, 1968; Goodall and Moncrief, 1965), and metabolic (Robinson and Miller, 1981; Wolfe et al., 1977) alterations. Acute endotoxin shock is rapidly produced with Escherichia coli endotoxin (Balis et al., 1978).

Role of Oxygen Radicals in Endotoxin Shock and Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation

The generation of oxygen free radicals seems to be implicated in the pathogenesis of shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) caused by endotoxin1,2, Radical generation is increased in some critical states directly related to shock and DIC, such as tissue hypoxia3, incomplete ischemia and tissue reperfusion4, activation of arachidonic acid cascade5, and complement-induced granulocyte aggregation6.