Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive skin cancer with a high mortality rate. The majority of MCC (70-80%) harbor clonally integrated Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) in the tumor genome and express viral T antigen oncoproteins. The characterization of an early passage MCV-positive MCC cell line MS-1 is described, and its cellular, immunohistochemical, and virological features to MCV-negat...

Previous studies have shown that melanoma patients develop an immune response to cell surface melanoma-associated antigens. The presence of this antibody response to cell surface antigens has been correlated with a better clinical outcome when melanoma patients are treated with an allogeneic melanoma cell vaccine (MCV) as an active immunotherapy protocol. It was hypothesized that the inability ...

Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) is a recently discovered human polyomavirus causing the majority of human Merkel cell carcinomas. We mapped a 71-bp minimal MCV replication core origin sufficient for initiating eukaryotic DNA replication in the presence of wild-type MCV large T protein (LT). The origin includes a poly(T)-rich tract and eight variably oriented, GAGGC-like pentanucleotide sequences...

BACKGROUND Identification of α thalassemia (α thal) a common cause of microcytosis during neonatal periods is an important step prevent unnecessary interventions. Thus, low the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and the mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) may consider as α-thalassemia key detection points. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of microcytosis among neonates who born in T...

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), an aggressive skin cancer with neuroendocrine features, has been found to be associated with a new type of human polyomavirus called Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV). Patients diagnosed with MCC have a significantly increased risk of a second primary cancer. We report here the first case of two primary MCCs arising on the face at different times, associated with MCV in...

6027 Background: Polyomaviruses are frequently associated with malignancies in their hosts. Recently, a novel polyoma virus, named Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) was identified integrated to the genome of 6 of 10 fresh frozen samples of MCC. These findings suggest an involvement of MCV in the pathogenesis of MCC. Because MCC is a rare tumor, the most readily available tissue is archival formali...

OBJECTIVES To compare the diagnostic efficiency of anti-MCV, anti-CCP2 and RF detection for patients with RA. METHODS Cross-sectional study of patients with established rheumatic disease: rheumatoid arthritis (RA; n=75), psoriatic arthritis (PsA; n=25), 27 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS; n=27) and connective tissue disease (CTD; n=17). Anti-CCP2, anti-MCV and RF were detected by enz...

Patients with melanoma metastatic to distant sites or at high risk for recurrent melanoma have been treated with a polyvalent melanoma cell vaccine (MCV) in phase II protocols. We assessed in vivo and in vitro cell-mediated responses to MCV in 163 patients who had undergone surgical resection of American Joint Committee on Cancer stage III melanoma. During the first 4 months of vaccine immunoth...

Rheumatoid factor (RF) is currently used in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The discovery of anticitrullinated protein autoantibodies has led to the development of various new tests, such as anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies, and anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV) antibodies, to diagnose RA. The aims of this study were to determine the sensitivity a...

A measles outbreak occurred among a highly vaccinated population in Alaska during 1998, providing an opportunity to determine the incremental efficacy of >or=2 doses of measles-containing vaccine (MCV) compared with 1 dose. Of 33 confirmed case patients identified, 31 had been vaccinated with 1 dose of MCV, 1 had received 2 doses, and vaccination status was unknown in 1 case. Seventy percent of...