Three articles in this issue of Clinical Cancer Research show how multiple vaccinations can lead to immunosuppression. Moreover, two studies in patients show that granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) as an adjuvant immunostimulant to different kind of vaccines can lead to adverse outcome in terms of relapse-free and overall survival. Modulation of regulatory T-cell activity...

In vitro cultures of human bone marrow have been used to study normal haemopoiesis and to gain information to aid in the treatment of leukaemia patients. A workshop on the development of semi-solid bone marrow cultures was held for two days in Washington on 15 and 16 August 1976. The participants of this workshop discussed some of the technical problems associated with semi-solid cultures of hu...

A recent randomized controlled clinical trial of the immunostimulatory agent thymosin alpha-1 was conducted and showed a trend toward improved survival in patients receiving the drug (P = 0.06). Although this was a relatively small study and the exact mechanism of action of thymosin alpha-1 is not known, the present results further support the evolving concept that, as sepsis persists, a hypoin...

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) stimulates the development of and the cytotoxic activity of white blood cells. Recombinant human GM-CSF has proven useful in the treatment of blood disorders. The structure of GM-CSF, which was determined at 2.4 angstrom resolution by x-ray crystallography, has a novel fold combining a two-stranded antiparallel beta sheet with an open bu...

Hematopoietic regulatory factors produced by adherent (stromal) cells in long-term murine bone marrow cultures have been investigated. Using an in situ double layer agar overlay system, we demonstrated that exposure of the stromal cells to 1,100-rad irradiation increased their activities in stimulating colony formation of FDC-P1, an interleukin 3 (IL 3)-responsive cell line. The colony-stimulat...

We have reported that melatonin may rescue bone marrow cells from apoptosis induced either in vivo or in vitro by cancer chemotherapy compounds via bone marrow T-cells and endogenous release of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Here we show that the number of granulocyte/macrophage colony-forming units cultured with suboptimal concentrations of colony-stimulating factor was high...

In this study, 30 AIDS patients without Mycobacterium avium infection were randomized to receive treatment with azithromycin (1200 mg), granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF; 250 microg/m2/day for 5 days), or both agents. The M. avium killing capacity of neutrophils and monocytes harvested from each patient before intervention and during (day 4), and after therapy (day 8) was a...

The effects of lamina propria mononuclear cell culture supernatant on epithelial cell DNA synthesis were studied using cells isolated from patients with inflammatory bowel disease and normal controls. Supernatants from resting and phytohaemagglutinin stimulated cells were studied and supernatants that strongly promoted DNA synthesis were pooled, and growth factor activity partially characterise...

OBJECTIVES Cytokines are critical regulatory molecules that circulate in blood at measurable levels. However, the epidemiology of serum cytokine levels in healthy populations is still limited, particularly for Japanese populations. The objective of this study was to examine the relation between serum cytokine levels and common laboratory tests in a healthy Japanese population. METHODS We stud...