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A cell-mediated cytotoxicity assay was used to evaluate the specific reactivity of patients with squamous cell carcinoma to an established cell line derived from squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. Heat inactivated sera from patients with squamous cell carcinoma could very effectively nullify this specific cytotoxicity (P less than 0.01). There was no significant difference between the cytotoxic blocking activity of the sera from patients with different stages of the cancer in this experimental setup.

The records of 2,277 patients referred to the Colposcopy Clinic at Cook County Hospital were reviewed, and those of 1,328 black patients who had a histological diagnosis of dysplasia or carcinoma in situ of the cervix were chosen for this study.Treatment modalities of intraepithelial cervical neoplasia are discussed and the conservative management of young patients is emphasized. Because of the effectiveness of outpatient management in cervical preinvasive lesions, health providers should make every attempt to motivate people particularly those at high risk, ie, black women, to undertake preventive measures.

The research of antiheart antibodies was carried out on 174 cardiac patients. The 40% of patients with acute myocardial infarction and the 27% with other heart diseases evidenced antimyocardial antibodies. No antipericardial antibodies were found. The immunological research seems to offer an important help in the diagnosis of the atypical postmyocardial infarction syndromes, of the recidivant myopericarditis without clinical or electrocardiographic evidence; and sometimes it may reveal subclinical myocardial infarction.

A cell-mediated cytotoxicity system was used to characterize the suppressor factors in sera from patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix. The immunoglobulin-M fraction of the sera of 17 patients with different stages of invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, separated by Sephadex gel filtration, were tested. All showed marked cytotoxic suppressor activity, including two cases in which sera showed only mild activity. The immunoglobulin-G fraction of sera from 13 patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix was separated by ion exchange chromatography. The cytotoxic suppressor activity of the immunoglobulin-G fraction proved to be comparable in effect to that of the whole sera. By using increasing dilutions of IgG and IgM fractions, it could be demonstrated that IgM fraction retained its activity at 0.01 +/- 0.005 mg/ml whereas IgG fraction was devoid of activity at this concentration, suggesting that these two immunoglobulin fractions act independently. It is suggested that the cytotoxic suppressor activity in sera from patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix resides in the gamma globulin fraction and that both immunoglobulin-M and immunoglobulin-G of their sera manifest the cytotoxic suppressor activity independently. (Am J Reprod Immunol. 2:199-203.)

Leukocyte adherence inhibition (LAI) assay was used to evaluate cell-mediated immunity in patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. The reactivity of the peripheral blood leukocytes of these patients was evaluated after incubation with pooled extracts of allogeneic squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. One hundred sixty-seven sets of LAI assays were performed on 54 individuals, including 23 patients with Stage I squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, 9 patients with other stages of this tumor, 9 patients with unrelated tumors and 13 normal healthy volunteers. A protein concentration of one milligram per milliliter in the tumor extract and 10% fetal bovine serum in the feeding media gave the best results. Eighty-seven percent (28/32) of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix showed marked specific reactivity. No difference was found in the LAI indices of different stages of the disease.

The hepatic synthesis of cholesterol-measured as incorporation of 14C-acetate into digitonin-precipitable sterols-has been evaluated in needle biopsy material of normal untreated patients and patients under short-term treatment with Diazepam, Phenobarbital, Chlorpromazine or Diphenylhydantoin. A significant increase of cholesterol synthesis was observed in the first two groups with much higher levels of incorporation in the Diazepam-treated patients. Moreover in this group the levels were still elevated from 4 to 7 days after drug withdrawl. Ultrastructural and morphometric studies performed on the same biopsy material showed a significant increase of smooth endoplasmic reticulum in hepatocytes of Diazepam-treated patients; in addition, there seemed to be a positive correlation between the increased cholesterol synthesis and the formation of areas of non vesicular, type 2, smooth endoplasmic reticulum. These findings suggest an early stimulation of the liver cell microsomal system by Diazepam in man; they also point to side effects of some drugs, which are not predictable from studies in Wistar rats.

The in vitro reactivity of peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with cervical squamous malignancy was prospectively followed over a relatively long period of time. In 12 of 14 patients with preinvasive cervical lesions, reactivity was present at the time of initial diagnosis. Three months after treatment, reactivity was still present in only one of 12 (8%). Six months after the treatment, no significantly reactivity could be detected in any of them. In the group with invasive squamous cell carcinoma, four patients developed recurrence in the course of follow-up. Reactivity was present in all at the time of initial diagnosis. In three of them, cytotoxic reactivity was retained up to the time of death, in spite of clinical deterioration. One lost the reactivity after the third course of chemotherapy. Fourteen patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma were followed up to 24 months without any evidence of recurrence. In all of this group, the cell-mediated cytotoxicity was nonreactive at 9 months. We conclude that: (1) patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix demonstrated cell-mediated immune responses which disappeared 3 to 9 months after effective treatment (apparent cure) and (2) with persistent disease, in spite of marked clinical deterioration and inanition, cell-mediated cytotoxicity was demonstrable until the time of death.

Two cases of microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vagina are reported. Similar to their counterparts on the uterine cervix, intraepithelial lesions and microinvasive and invasive carcinoma of the vagina are probably different points in the continuum of a single disease process. It is recommended that patients with vulvar, vaginal, and cervical squamous lesions be followed closely for development of vaginal invasive lesions.

The results of an investigation to make evident the degree of immunity against rubella virus in women living in the Marche are described. The percentage of women deprived of natural immunity is unequal in two groups of different age. The authors discuss about problems of vaccinic prophilaxis, specially for the "high risk" populations.