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The chemical synthesis of thiazole-4-carboxamide adenine dinucleotide (TAD), previously identified as the active anabolite of the oncolytic 2-beta-D-ribofuranosylthiazole-4-carboxamide (TR), has been achieved by three different approaches: (1) incubation of adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP) and 2-beta-D-ribofuranosylthiazole-4-carboxamide 5'-monophosphate (TRMP) with excess DCC in aqueous pyridine, (2) reaction of adenosine 5'-phosphoromorpholidate with TRMP in pyridine, and (3) reaction of adenosine-5'-phosphoric di-n-butylphosphinothioic anhydride with TRMP in the presence of AgNO3. While the first approach produced only traces of TAD, the last two afforded 31 and 16% yields, respectively, of isolated TAD. The synthetic material was indistinguishable from biosynthesized TAD as judged by its HPLC behavior, NMR, UV and mass spectra, enzymatic resistance to alkaline phosphatase and susceptibility to venom phosphodiesterase, IMP dehydrogenase inhibitory activity, and cytotoxicity. TAD and TR were equally effective against murine P388 leukemia when employed at equimolar doses.

The primary in vitro antibody response to TNP-Ficoll was found to be under H-2-restricted Ir gene control. Strains B10(H-2b), B10.A(H-2a), and B10.S(9R) (H-2t4) were consistently low responders while strains D2.GD(H-2g2), B10.GD(H-2g2), and B10.S(H-2s) were high responders. The in vitro TNP-Ficoll response in congenic recombinant and F1 hybrid mice demonstrated the requirement for complementation of two independent Ir genes. One Ir gene mapped in or to the left of the I-A subregion with high responder alleles being s or d. The second Ir gene mapped to the right of the I-E subregion and required b or s alleles for complementation. These results were further supported by the ability to block the TNP-Ficoll response by appropriate anti-Ia serum pretreatment of the antigen-presenting macrophages. When a structurally different polysaccharide antigen TNP-dextran was used, an identical pattern of restriction was observed.

<h4>Unlabelled</h4>It was revealed that the coagulo-fibriolytic system in severe toxemia of pregnancy showed chronic DIC. But platelet function which included platelet release reaction was not completely studied in severe toxemia of pregnancy. ADP induced platelet aggregation was decreased in those cases, and especially in eclampsia, platelets failed to be aggregated by ADP. To reveal the mechanism of these phenomena, the following study was performed.<h4>Method</h4>Platelet count, ADP induced platelet aggregation, beta-thromboglobulin (beta-TG), antithrombin III (ATIII), and fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) were determined during pregnancy, labor, puerperium, and in severe toxemia.<h4>Results</h4>1. Platelet count, ADP induced aggregation, ATIII were decreased and beta-TG was increased in severe toxemia and also in the very early period of puerperium, significantly. 2. There was no significant correlation between FDP and ADP induced aggregation. ADP induced aggregation was not inhibited by FDP in vitro at the final concentration of less than 720 micrograms/ml. This suggests that thrombin formation occurs in vivo, in toxemia and in a moment at a very early stage of puerperium, because of high beta-TG level and low ATIII level. But there may be numerous number of platelet which remains reversible. The reduction in the ADP induced platelet aggregation cannot be due to FDP, but may be due to an increased number of exhausted platelets.

The complete amino acid sequence of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC)-binding subunit of proton adenosine triphosphatase from glycolysing bacteria Streptococcus faecalis was established. Isolation of the protein from subbacterial particles was carried out by using extraction with a chloroform/methanol mixture and following gel-filtration on Sephadex LH-60 and Bio-gel P-30. To establish the primary structure, use was made of cyanogen bromide and hydroxylamine cleavages, trypsin and partial acid hydrolyses. Separation of the peptide fragments obtained from cyanogen bromide and hydroxylamine cleavages and partial acid hydrolysis was performed by gel-filtration on Bio-gel P-10 and reversed-phase HPLC. Peptide structures were determined mainly with the aid of 4-N,N-dimethylaminoazobenzene-4'-isothiocyanate. The polypeptide chain of the protein consists of 71 amino acid residues (mol. wt. 7291). The primary structure of the protein from S. faecalis shares all common features of the structural organization of other H+-ATPase DCC-binding subunits and shows a high degree of homology with the corresponding subunit of thermophilic bacterium PS-3. Inactivation of H+-ATPase with DCC was due to modification of Glu54 of the polypeptide chain.

Thiorphan, N-[(R,S)-3-mercapto-2-benzylpropanoyl]glycine is a highly potent inhibitor (Ki = 3.5 nM) of "enkephalinase," a metalloendopeptidase cleaving the Gly-Phe bond (positions 3 and 4) of enkephalins in brain tissue. In accordance with this property, thiorphan displays antinociceptive activity after systemic administration. However, thiorphan also inhibits to a lesser extent (Ki = 140 nM) the widely distributed angiotensin-converting enzyme, a carboxydipeptidase implicated in blood pressure regulation. Therefore, in view of an eventual clinical use of enkephalinase inhibitors, it was very important to develop fully specific compounds. Such derivatives were obtained taking into account that N-methylation of the ultimate amide bond of dipeptides strongly decreases enkephalinase affinity without affecting angiotension-converting enzyme recognition, whereas retro-inversion of the amide bond leads to the inverse effect. Thus, the retro-inverso dipeptide (R)-H2N-CH(CH2 phi)-NHCO-CH2-CO2H exhibits an inhibitory potency on enkephalinase (IC50 approximately equal to 12 muM) close to that of the natural dipeptide L-Phe-Gly (IC50 approximately equal to 3 muM). This result shows the topological analogy between the crucial components involved in enkephalinase recognition both in active dipeptides and structurally related retro-inverso isomers. Taking into account these observations, retro-thiorphan, (R,S)-HS-CH2-CH-(CH2 phi)-NHCO-CH2-COOH, was prepared. As compared to thiorphan, the retro isomer is 50% as potent (Ki = 6 nM) on enkephalinase but displays a drastic loss of potency on angiotension-converting enzyme (IC50 greater than 10,000 nM). This specificity was interpreted as a consequence of differences in the stereochemical constraints involving enzyme-inhibitor hydrogen bonding. This hypothesis is supported by reported crystallographic studies on related enzymes such as thermolysin and carboxypeptidase A. As expected, retro-thiorphan exhibits about the same analgesic potency as thiorphan on the hot plate and writhing tests in mice. Therefore, the topological concept of retro-inverso isomers could be extended to other enkephalinase inhibitors, allowing the design of potent and highly selective compounds occurring as new classes of analgesic and psychoactive agents.

The coagulant properties of intact bovine vascular cells (aortic endothelial and smooth muscle cells) and human vascular cells (cutaneous and foreskin microvascular cells, umbilical venous endothelium) grown in vitro were studied. Compared to nonvascular cells (fibroblasts, corneal endothelial cells, fetal lung or intestinal mucosal cells), vascular cells had little procoagulant activity. Radioimmunologic measurement of thrombin in recalcified plasma demonstrated markedly lower concentrations of thrombin in the presence of vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells compared to corneal endothelial and fetal lung cells. The low thrombin concentrations were not a consequence of thrombin binding to the vascular cells nor were they due to accelerated thrombin inactivation by antithrombin-III or alpha 2-macroglobulin. Neither vascular cells nor the nonvascular cells promoted contact activation of plasma as measured by a sensitive specific assay for kallikrein. Studies with intact cell monolayers and purified factors VIIa and X indicated that while nonvascular cells express tissue factor activity, vascular cells do not exhibit this property. These data suggest that the nonthrombogenic nature of intact vascular cells is due to their failure to initiate contact activation and to express tissue factor activity. In addition, the primary difference in coagulant potential between vascular cells and nonvascular cells is the lack of tissue factor expression by the vascular cells.

Precursor polyproteins containing translational products of the gag gene of Moloney murine leukemia virus were purified by gel electrophoresis and cleaved into large fragments by hydroxylamine, mild acid hydrolysis, or cyanogen bromide. The hydroxylamine cleavage method (specific for asparagine-glycine bonds) was adapted especially for this study. The electrophoretic mobility and antigenicity of the fragments and, in some cases, the presence or absence of [35S]methionine revealed detailed information on the structure of Pr65gag, gPr80gag, and Pr75gag (the unglycosylated variant of gPr80gag formed in vivo in the presence of tunicamycin or in vitro in a reticulocyte cell-free system). When compared with Pr65gag, gPr80gag contains 7,000 daltons of additional amino acids, presumably as, or as part of, a leader sequence at or very close to its N terminus. We present evidence that this leader may have replaced part of the p15 sequence. Furthermore, gPr80gag contains three separate carbohydrate groups. One is attached to the presumed leader sequence or to the p15 domain, and two are attached to the p30 domain. Each of the Moloney murine leukemia virus gag precursor proteins Pr65gag, gPr80gag, and Pr75gag corresponds with a read-through product into the pol gene. We designated these products Pr180gag-pol, gPr200gag-pol, and Pr190gag-pol (the unglycosylated variant of gPr200gag-pol), respectively. gPr200gag-pol contains all of the extra amino acids and carbohydrate groups present in gPr80gag and at least one carbohydrate group in its pol sequences.

We have tested the ability of various glycosaminoglycans to increase the rate of inhibition of thrombin by heparin cofactor II (HCII) and by antithrombin III (ATIII) isolated from human plasma. Heparin, dermatan sulfate, and heparan sulfate from bovine liver (in order of decreasing activity) activated HCII. In contrast, only heparin and bovine liver heparan sulfate activated ATIII, whereas dermatan sulfate was inactive at concentrations less than or equal to 1 mg/ml. Heparan sulfate from human aorta, chondroitin 4-sulfate, chondroitin 6-sulfate, keratan sulfate, and hyaluronic acid had little or no activity with either HCII or ATIII. The second order rate constant for the thrombin-HCII reaction reached a maximum value of 6.4 X 10(8) M-1 min-1 in the presence of 250-500 micrograms/ml of dermatan sulfate compared to 3.8 X 10(8) M-1 min-1 in the presence of 40-80 micrograms/ml of heparin. When 125I-thrombin was incubated with plasma in the presence of greater than or equal to 100 micrograms/ml of dermatan sulfate, the protease became complexed exclusively with HCII, suggesting that HCII is the only thrombin inhibitor in human plasma that can be activated by dermatan sulfate.

To evaluate the roles of alcohol and genetic factors in hepatic iron overload, we studied prospectively 61 patients selected solely on the basis of increased stainable hepatic iron (grade 3 or 4). Independent comparisons were made between alcoholic (n = 20) and nonalcoholic (n = 41) patients, and between patients wih affected relatives (n = 25) and those without (n = 36). For the entire group, the mean value for mobilizable iron was 19.6 g and the prevalence of HLA-A3 was 69.6%, both findings compatible with genetic hemochromatosis. Subgroups were no different in clinical features (diabetes, pigmentation, cardiomyopathy, hypogonadism, or arthropaty), histologic findings (fat, inflammation, fibrosis), indexes of iron metabolism (serum iron, transferrin saturation, chelatable iron, and mobilizable iron stores), or frequency of HLA-A3 and HLA-B7. The only exception was that mean hepatic iron concentration was lower in alcoholic patients than in nonalcoholic patients (17,344 vs. 28,553 micrograms/g dry wt, p less than 0.001). Similarity between subgroups in almost all parameters examined is consistent with the hypothesis that heavy deposition of hepatic iron, as observed in our patients, is an indication of genetic hemochromatosis, regardless of alcohol consumption or the findings of affected relatives. The lower concentrations of hepatic iron in alcoholic patients, despite equal body stores in both groups, suggest that alcohol may alter the distribution of storage iron in genetic hemochromatosis.