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Standard treatment for transitional cell carcinoma confined to the bladder is radical cystectomy that allow to obtain an overall 5-year disease-free survival rate only of 50-70%. It has been demonstrated that intra-arterial chemotherapy produces the same survival outcomes as radical cystectomy. This study aimed to evaluate the activity and toxicity of a bladder-sparing loco-regional treatment. Five patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (4 locally advanced and 1 pelvic relapse) were treated with doxorubycin 25 mg/m2, cisplatin 40 mg/m2 and methotrexate 50 mg/m2, all infused bolus via internal iliac arteries on day 1, every three weeks. We obtained 3 complete responses, 1 stable disease and 1 progression of disease. The treatment was well tolerated with a minimal hematological toxicity and no others major toxicity. Median disease free survival was 8 months (1-17), median overall survival was 22 months (2-55). This loco-regional regimen of chemotherapy is active and safe in locally advanced bladder cancer patients and permits a prolonged good quality of life regarding the maintenance of the physiological functions of the lower urinary tract.

Preliminary results showed that IL-2 immunotherapy may be effective in the treatment of recurring advanced ovarian cancer. The pineal neurohormone melatonin (MLT) has been proven to amplify IL-2 efficacy by counteracting macrophage-mediated immunosuppression. On this basis, a pilot phase II study of low-dose IL-2 plus MLT was performed in advanced ovarian cancer patients progressing after at least 3 previous polychemotherapeutic lines. The study included 12 evaluable patients. IL-2 was injected subcutaneously at 3 million IU/day for 6 days/week for 4 weeks, by repealing the cycle after a al-day rest period in nonprogressing patients. MLT was given orally at 40 mg/day. No complete response was seen. A partial response was achieved in 2/12 (16%) patients. A stable disease was obtained in 5 other patients, whereas the remaining 5 patients progressed. The treatment was well tolerated. This preliminary study suggests that immunotherapy with low-dose IL-2 plus MLT may represent a well tolerated and promising therapy of advanced ovarian cancer progressing on standard medical treatments.

We have cloned in Escherichia coli both the complete core gene of hepatitis B virus and a truncated version of it, leading to the synthesis of high levels of a core-antigen-equivalent polypeptide (r-p22) and of an e-antigen-equivalent polypeptide (r-p16), respectively. We then compared the structural and antigenic properties of the two polypeptides, as well as their ability to bind viral nucleic acids. r-p16 was found to self-assemble into capsid-like particles that appeared similar, when observed under the electron microscope, to those formed by r-p22. In r-p16 particles, disulfide bonds linked the truncated polypeptides in dimers, assembled in the particle by noncovalent interactions. In r-p22 capsids, further disulfide bonds, conceivably involving the carboxy-terminal cysteines of r-p22 polypeptides, joined the dimers together, converting the structure into a covalently closed lattice. The protamine-like domain was at least partly exposed on the surface of r-p22 particles, since it was accessible to selective proteolysis. Finally, r-p22, but not r-p16, was shown to bind native and denatured DNA as well as RNA. Taken together, these results suggest that the protamine-like domain in core polypeptides is a nucleic acid-binding domain and is dispensable for the correct folding and assembly of amino-terminal and central regions.

Virions of bovine papilloma virus (BPV) were isolated from a pool of cutaneous bovine fibropapillomas and purified by CsCl gradient centrifugation. SDS-PAGE revealed several polypeptides with an Mr ranging from 76K to 19K. Western blot analysis of the viral isolate identified additional polypeptides when a rabbit anti-BPV serum was used, but only the main capsid component of 57K when a rabbit antiserum raised against human papillomavirus was used. The viral preparation was then 125I-labelled and further purified by gel filtration. SDS-PAGE of immunoprecipitates of the anti-BPV serum with different fractions from the chromatographic column revealed the polypeptides of 76K, 57K and 28K to be viral structural components. The 28K polypeptide, not previously characterized, was shown to be composed of several molecular forms, migrating over a pH range of 3.5 to 4.6 when analysed by two-dimensional PAGE. Following SDS-PAGE performed under non-reducing conditions, the 28K and 76K polypeptides and the main capsid component of 57K appeared to be linked by disulphide bridges to form hetero- or homopolymers.