ALBERT

Description: We investigated whether recombinant alpha 2b interferon (r alpha 2bIFN) would reduce the proportion of bone marrow Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) cells in chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) by treating 107 previously untreated patients daily with r alpha 2bIFN at 5 x 10(6)IU/m2 subcutaneously. Patients with complete remission, partial remission, or partial hematologic remission received treatment until progression; those with progressive disease were taken off study and observed for survival. Sixty-three (59%) of the patients achieved at least a partial hematologic remission (24 complete remissions and 39 partial remissions). The median time to response for the 63 responders was 3.4 months, with a median duration of remission of 52 months and with 81% of responders continuing in remission beyond 12 months. The median survival for the 107 patients was 66 months. Of 78 patients with cytogenetic follow-up data, 31 (40%) achieved a partial cytogenetic response (n = 17) or a complete cytogenetic response (n = 14). The percentage of cytogenetic responders among all patients was 29% (31 of 107 patients). The median time to first cytogenetic response was 9 months. A major dose reduction of r alpha 2bIFN (〉 or = 50%) was required at some time during treatment in 38% of patients, 26% required 10% to 49% dose reductions, and 36% had minor dose reductions of 〈 or = 10%. No association was observed between dose received and the attainment of a cytogenetic response. None of the usual prognostic factors (sex, race, performance status, weight loss, time from diagnosis to treatment, hepatosplenomegaly, age, symptoms, hemoglobin, or platelet, blast, basophil, or white blood cell count) were significantly related to survival. These data provide confirmation that major cytogenetic responses to prolonged administration of subcutaneous r alpha 2bIFN occur in 20% to 38% (95% confidence interval) of chronic- phase Ph-positive patients. Although it is hypothesized that patients achieving major cytogenetic responses to r alpha 2bIFN should have prolonged remission duration and survival compared with nonresponders, analyses of the effect of cytogenetic responders by both “landmark” and time-dependent covariate techniques fail to provide statistically significant evidence for an effect of cytogenetic response on remission duration or survival. This may be due in part to an effect size insufficiently large to be detected with the number of patients treated in this study. Thus, confirmation of remission duration or survival benefit, if any, of r alpha 2bIFN therapy in Ph-positive chronic-phase CML must await the outcome of randomized trials comparing IFN with conventional agents.

Description: We investigated whether recombinant alpha 2b interferon (r alpha 2bIFN) would reduce the proportion of bone marrow Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) cells in chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) by treating 107 previously untreated patients daily with r alpha 2bIFN at 5 x 10(6)IU/m2 subcutaneously. Patients with complete remission, partial remission, or partial hematologic remission received treatment until progression; those with progressive disease were taken off study and observed for survival. Sixty-three (59%) of the patients achieved at least a partial hematologic remission (24 complete remissions and 39 partial remissions). The median time to response for the 63 responders was 3.4 months, with a median duration of remission of 52 months and with 81% of responders continuing in remission beyond 12 months. The median survival for the 107 patients was 66 months. Of 78 patients with cytogenetic follow-up data, 31 (40%) achieved a partial cytogenetic response (n = 17) or a complete cytogenetic response (n = 14). The percentage of cytogenetic responders among all patients was 29% (31 of 107 patients). The median time to first cytogenetic response was 9 months. A major dose reduction of r alpha 2bIFN (〉 or = 50%) was required at some time during treatment in 38% of patients, 26% required 10% to 49% dose reductions, and 36% had minor dose reductions of 〈 or = 10%. No association was observed between dose received and the attainment of a cytogenetic response. None of the usual prognostic factors (sex, race, performance status, weight loss, time from diagnosis to treatment, hepatosplenomegaly, age, symptoms, hemoglobin, or platelet, blast, basophil, or white blood cell count) were significantly related to survival. These data provide confirmation that major cytogenetic responses to prolonged administration of subcutaneous r alpha 2bIFN occur in 20% to 38% (95% confidence interval) of chronic- phase Ph-positive patients. Although it is hypothesized that patients achieving major cytogenetic responses to r alpha 2bIFN should have prolonged remission duration and survival compared with nonresponders, analyses of the effect of cytogenetic responders by both “landmark” and time-dependent covariate techniques fail to provide statistically significant evidence for an effect of cytogenetic response on remission duration or survival. This may be due in part to an effect size insufficiently large to be detected with the number of patients treated in this study. Thus, confirmation of remission duration or survival benefit, if any, of r alpha 2bIFN therapy in Ph-positive chronic-phase CML must await the outcome of randomized trials comparing IFN with conventional agents.

Description: We describe a family whose members have impaired platelet aggregation and secretion responses to epinephrine with normal responses to adenosine diphosphate and collagen. Platelet alpha 2-adrenergic receptors (measured using 3H methyl-yohimbine) were diminished in the propositus (78 sites per platelet), his two sisters (70 and 27 sites per platelet), and parents (37 and 63 sites per platelet), but not in two maternal aunts (12 normal subjects, 214 +/- 18 sites per platelet; mean +/- SE). However, the inhibition of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels by epinephrine in platelets exposed to 400 nmol/L PGI2 was similar in the patients and five normal subjects (epinephrine concentration for 50% inhibition, 0.04 +/- 0.01 mumol/L v 0.03 +/- 0.01 mumol/L; P greater than .05). In normal platelets, the concentration of yohimbine (0.18 mumol/L) required for half maximal inhibition of aggregation induced by 2 mumol/L epinephrine was lower than that for inhibition of its effect on adenylate cyclase (1.6 mumol/L). In quin2 loaded platelets, thrombin (0.1 U/mL) stimulated rise in cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration, [Ca2+]i, was normal in the two patients studied. The PGI2 analog ZK 36,374 completely inhibited thrombin-induced rise in [Ca2+]i; the reversal of this inhibition by epinephrine was normal in the two patients. Thus, despite the impaired aggregation response to epinephrine, platelets from these patients have normal ability to inhibit PGI2-stimulated cAMP levels. These patients with an inherited receptor defect provide evidence that fewer platelet alpha 2-adrenergic receptors are required for epinephrine-induced inhibition of adenylate cyclase than for aggregation.

Description: Plasma or serum extrinsic pathway inhibitor (EPI) activity was measured in 24 patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and in 23 patients with severe hepatocellular disease. EPI was measured as activity in a test sample that inhibited factor VIIa/tissue factor (TF)- catalyzed activation of 3H-factor IX (activation peptide release) in the presence of factor X. Of the 24 patients with DIC, 13 had sepsis and five had metastatic carcinoma, disorders in which tissue factor is believed to initiate DIC. EPI activity ranged from 68% to 300% (mean 134% +/- 50%). Serial measurements in nine patients failed to show depletion of EPI activity coincident with worsening DIC. DIC induced by tissue factor or other activating materials may progress despite normal EPI levels. In the patients with liver disease, of whom 15 had decompensated chronic hepatocellular disease (two fatal cases) and eight had acute fulminant liver failure (seven fatal cases), plasma or serum EPI activity varied from less than 20% to 194%. Values were distributed in a bimodal fashion. EPI activity could not be correlated with either the etiology of the liver disease or the degree of prolongation of the prothrombin time. Patients with chronic hepatocellular disease who survived had normal or elevated EPI activity. Patients with fatal hepatic dysfunction had low, normal, or high values for EPI activity. This must mean that secretion of EPI from cells other than hepatocytes can maintain normal plasma EPI levels.

Description: We have used activation peptide release assays to compare factor VII and activated factor VII (VIIa) activation of factor X, normal factor IX (IXN), and a variant factor IX (IXBmLE), which, after activation, is unable to back-activate factor VII. In purified systems, factor VII and VIIa each rapidly activated factor X, but after a one minute lag for factor VII. VIIa also readily activated both IXN and IXBmLE. Factor VII initially failed to activate substantial amounts of either IXN or IXBmLE; on further incubation factor VII activated IXN but not IXBmLE. Activation of IXN began when approximately 10% of factor VII had been converted to VIIa, as measured by 125I-factor VII radioactivity profiles. Adding factor VII to VIIa slowed its activation of IXBmLE. However, in the presence of factor X, factor VII alone rapidly activated IXBmLE. Unlike purified systems, 1 nmol/L VIIa added to factor VII-deficient plasma failed to activate factor IX. Increasing factor VII to 10 nmol/L (plasma concentration) either as native VII or VIIa yielded similar activation curves for factor IX and similar activation curves for factor X. Adding 5% VIIa to factor X-deficient plasma and to factor XII-deficient plasma substantially shortened the dilute tissue factor clotting time of only the former. These data support the hypothesis that factor VII/tissue factor complex initiates tissue factor-dependent clotting through a minimal generation of Xa. This Xa then rapidly back-activates a small amount of factor VII, following which the rates of activation of both factors IX and X increase dramatically.

Description: Platelet stimulation with ADP results in several responses, including shape change, increase in cytoplasmic ionized calcium concentration [Ca2+]i, an inhibition of adenylate cyclase. 5′-p-Fluorosulphonyl benzoyladenosine (FSBA), which covalently labels an ADP binding site on platelets, blocks platelet shape change but not the inhibition of cyclic AMP levels by ADP, whereas p-chloromercuribenzenesulfonate (pCMBS), a nonpenetrating thiol reagent, has the opposite effects. We examined the effect of FSBA and pCMBS on ADP-induced increase in [Ca2+]i using platelets loaded with fluorescent Ca2+ indicators quin2 and fura-2. FSBA (50 to 200 mumol/L) induced a dose-dependent rise in [Ca2+]i, indicating that it is a weak platelet agonist. Under conditions of covalent labeling of the ADP binding sites, FSBA (50 to 100 mumol/L) did not inhibit the ADP-induced increase in [Ca2+]i or its inhibition of adenylate cyclase, whereas pCMBS (up to 1 mmol/L) abolished both these responses but not shape change. These findings suggest that ADP-induced Ca2+ mobilization and inhibition of adenylate cyclase are mediated by platelet binding sites distinct from those mediating shape change.

Description: An umbilical vein model was designed in which washed vein segments are filled with a reaction mixture containing factor VIIa, Ca(+)+, and a substrate, either 3H-factor IX or 3H-factor X. The vein wall provides the tissue factor (TF) for factor VIIa/TF complexes that activate the substrates as measured by activation peptide release. The model was developed to study TF induced on venous endothelium in situ. However, unlike previous studies with TF expressed on cultured umbilical vein endothelial cells, factors IX and X were activated without first having to expose the vein wall to a perturbing stimulus. Histologic studies revealed that washing the vein and mixing the reaction mixture before subsampling had disrupted the endothelium. Immunostaining with anti-TF antibodies revealed no staining of endothelium but intense staining in extensions of Wharton's jelly penetrating fenestrations of the muscularis media of the vein. Thus, the model provided data on factor VIIa/TF formed, not on endothelium, but within the mucoid connective tissue of Wharton's jelly. It is known that factor VIIa/TF formed with TF in suspension or with TF expressed on the surface of cultured cells activates factor X more rapidly than factor IX. In contrast, in the umbilical vein model, when each substrate was present in an 88 nmol/L concentration, factors IX and X were activated at equivalent rates (mean activation rate for factor IX, 18.8 +/- 3.6 nmol/L/h; for factor X, 17.8 +/- 2.9 nmol/L/h; n = 9 paired vein segments). These data strengthen the evidence that factor VIIa/TF activation of factor IX represents a key initial reaction of coagulation in tissues. These results also show that data obtained with factor VIIa/TF complexes formed on the surface of cultured cells need not hold for factor VIIa/TF complexes formed in extracellular matrix.

Description: We have studied factor VII activation by measuring the ratio of factor VII clotting to coupled amidolytic activity (VIIc/VIIam) and cleavage of 125I-factor VII. In purified systems, a low concentration of Xa or a higher concentration of IXa rapidly activated 125I-factor VII, yielding a VIIc/VIIam ratio of 25 and similar gel profiles of heavy and light chain peaks of VIIa. On further incubation, VIIa activity diminished and a third 125I-peak appeared. When normal blood containing added 125I- factor VII was clotted in a glass tube, the VIIc/VIIam ratio rose fivefold, and 20% of the 125I-factor VII was cleaved. Clotting normal plasma in an activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) system yielded a VIIc/VIIam ratio of 25 and over 90% cleavage of 125I-factor VII. Clotting factor XII-deficient plasma preincubated with antibodies to factor X in an APTT system with added XIa yielded a VIIc/VIIam ratio of 19 and about 60% cleavage, which indicates that IXa, at a concentration achievable in plasma, can effectively activate factor VII. Clotting normal plasma with undiluted tissue factor yielded a VIIc/VIIam ratio of 15 to 20 and 60% cleavage of 125I-factor VII, whereas clotting plasma with diluted tissue factor activated factor VII only minimally. We conclude that both Xa and IXa can function as significant activators of factor VII in in vitro clotting mixtures but believe that only small amounts of factor VII may be activated in vivo during hemostasis.

Description: We have used activation peptide release assays to compare factor VII and activated factor VII (VIIa) activation of factor X, normal factor IX (IXN), and a variant factor IX (IXBmLE), which, after activation, is unable to back-activate factor VII. In purified systems, factor VII and VIIa each rapidly activated factor X, but after a one minute lag for factor VII. VIIa also readily activated both IXN and IXBmLE. Factor VII initially failed to activate substantial amounts of either IXN or IXBmLE; on further incubation factor VII activated IXN but not IXBmLE. Activation of IXN began when approximately 10% of factor VII had been converted to VIIa, as measured by 125I-factor VII radioactivity profiles. Adding factor VII to VIIa slowed its activation of IXBmLE. However, in the presence of factor X, factor VII alone rapidly activated IXBmLE. Unlike purified systems, 1 nmol/L VIIa added to factor VII-deficient plasma failed to activate factor IX. Increasing factor VII to 10 nmol/L (plasma concentration) either as native VII or VIIa yielded similar activation curves for factor IX and similar activation curves for factor X. Adding 5% VIIa to factor X-deficient plasma and to factor XII-deficient plasma substantially shortened the dilute tissue factor clotting time of only the former. These data support the hypothesis that factor VII/tissue factor complex initiates tissue factor-dependent clotting through a minimal generation of Xa. This Xa then rapidly back-activates a small amount of factor VII, following which the rates of activation of both factors IX and X increase dramatically.

Description: Recent investigations using Quin 2, a fluorophore used to monitor cytosolic free calcium shifts, have shown that strong agonists cause a dramatic dose-dependent increase in platelet fluorescence. However, weak agonists stimulated little or no increase in light emission of Quin 2-loaded platelets, suggesting that calcium flux is not involved in activation by these agents. The present study has sought an alternative explanation for the failure of weak stimuli to cause a rise in cytosolic free calcium in platelets containing Quin 2. Conditions used to prepare, wash, load, gel-filter, and evaluate the fluorophore- filled cells were examined for their compatibility with retention of sensitivity to activation by weak agonists. The technique used to measure shifts in cytosolic calcium with Quin 2 requires multiply washed, unstirred platelets. Under these conditions, platelets do not aggregate or secrete in response to weak agonists. Quin 2, at concentrations greater than 40 mumol/L, inhibits the response of platelets to strong agonists, and completely blocks their reaction to weak agonists. Quin 2 inhibition of platelet function appears related to high buffering capacity for free calcium, although other mechanisms cannot be ruled out. This suggestion is supported by the observation that Quin 2-induced blockade can be overcome by membrane modulation, which is a calcium-dependent process. However, since both agonists are weak, significant elevation in cytosolic calcium concurrent with functional restoration could not be demonstrated under the experimental conditions used for monitoring calcium. Thus, the conditions used to prepare platelets for Quin 2 evaluation and Quin 2 itself appear to be responsible for the failure of weak agonists to cause evidence of a calcium shift in fluorophore-loaded cells.