Paul I. Liu

Maternal-fetal transport of vitamin K1 and its effects on coagulation in premature infants

We conducted a prospective study to determine (1) the maternal-fetal vitamin K1 transport in premature infants after vitamin K1 was given to the mothers antenatally and (2) the vitamin K1 effects on blood coagulation in the babies. Women in labor at less than or equal to 34 weeks of gestation were randomly selected to receive antenatal vitamin K1, 5 mg given intramuscularly (vitamin K1 group), or no vitamin K1 (control group). Eight infants, including one set of twins, were in the vitamin K1 group and six in the control group. Vitamin K1 concentrations were higher in the vitamin K1 group than in the control group (p = 0.06). Activated partial thromboplastin time was prolonged, and factor II coagulation activity and factor II antigen were proportionately decreased in cord plasma in both groups. The average ratio of factor II coagulation activity to antigen was not decreased in either group. Protein induced by vitamin K absence-II (PIVKA-II) was not detectable in any cord plasma sample in either group. These findings support previous reports that the decreased vitamin K-dependent coagulation activity in premature infants is the result of reduced synthesis of precursor proteins, rather than the result of vitamin K deficiency, and suggest that additional vitamin K1 is not likely to improve coagulation activity. Among those infants who underwent cranial ultrasonography, all four in the vitamin K1 group and one of five in the control group had mild intraventricular hemorrhage. Studies of a larger number of patients are necessary before it can be established that maternal antenatal administration of vitamin K1 results in improvement of coagulation and the prevention of intraventricular hemorrhage in premature infants.

Human squamous cell carcinoma lines express oncofetal 44‐kd polypeptide defined by monoclonal antibody to mouse fetus

Most primary human carcinomas uniformly express an oncofetal epitope which has not been demonstrated previously in established human carcinoma cell lines. We successfully derived several low‐passage cell lines of human squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) from head and neck tumors using an in vitro adaptation procedure, characterized these lines, and examined them for expression of a 44‐kilodalton (kD) polypeptide (PP) oncofetal antigen (OFA) at the cell surface. Newly established and in vitro‐passaged SCC cells retained characteristic microvilli, numerous desmosomes and tonofilaments, abundant rough endoplasmic reticulum, osmophilic keratohyaline granules, and other features of the primary SCC cells. These new cell lines and two long‐term, established SCC lines (FaDu and Detroit 562) displayed OFA at the cell surface, as determined by flow cytometry using monoclonal antibody (MoAb) 115. While the FaDu and Detroit 562 lines exhibited aneuploidy during flow cytometric analysis, the new, low‐passage SCC lines that we developed remained diploid as were the primary SCC cells from which they were derived. We propose that the expression of a 44‐kD OFA is a common feature of human SCC. This marker may prove useful in the detection and treatment of these tumors.

Autopsy study of blast crisis in patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1949–1969

This report examines the relation of blast crisis to whole body radiation at the time of the atomic bomb (ATB), and describes the autopsy findings in 23 cases of CGL with terminal blast crisis found among 101 CGL cases autopsied in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, during the period 1949–1969. No evidence was found that blast crisis was more frequent in A‐bomb survivors who had been exposed to ionizing radiation ATB than in non‐exposed persons. Consequently, in this regard, as in other parameters reported previously, post‐irradiation leukemia is shown to be indistinguishable from “spontaneous” leukemia. The occurrence of blast crisis in this series is evaluated in relation to prevalence, year of death, age at onset and death, duration of disease, sex, hemorrhagic manifestations, and leukemic infiltration in various organs.