Nydegger et al. (4) have reported that the difference in susceptibility of erythrocytes from different inbred murine strains to lysis by the human alternate complement pathway is determined by an autosomal locus. We have found a good correlation between the degree of O-acetylation of the erythrocyte sialic acid residues and the susceptibility to complement lysis, whereas there was no correlatio...

Recent studies have shown that the sialic acid content of Sindbis virus influences both its ability to active the alternative pathway in vitro and its susceptibility to complement dependent clearance from the bloodstream in vivo. Other studies have shown that the sialic acid content of Sindbis virus is determined by the host in which it is propagated. Because individuals vary in their cell surf...

It has been proposed that the anti-inflammatory effects of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) might be due to the small fraction of Fc-sialylated IgG. In this study we biochemically and functionally characterized sialic acid-enriched IgG obtained by Sambucus nigra agglutinin (SNA) lectin fractionation. Two main IgG fractions isolated by elution with lactose (E1) or acidified lactose (E2) were an...

A comparison was made between the amounts of sialic acid released from viable cell suspensions of normal and malignant cells by Vibrio cholerae neuraminidase (VCN) and by influenza virus neuraminidase. More sialic acid can be removed by enzyme digestion from various tumors than from normal lymphoid cells. More sialic acid can be removed from the surface of both normal and tumor cells by VCN tha...

Background: The well-known toxic effects of benzene toxicity are bone marrow depression, reduction in blood cell counts, and induction of leukemia and aplastic anemia. This study was designed to evaluate biomarkers of aging in red blood cells (RBCs). Methods: Mice were exposed to benzene (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg/day) orally for 28 days. A group of benzene-exposed mice were injected intraperiton...

Changes in the metabolic state of a cell that permit (and perhaps trigger) mitosis are suggested from a variety of observations (see general discussions of the premitotic state: references 5, 7, 13). A list of such premonitory indications of mitosis should probably include increase in nuclear volume, loss of cellular water, cortical and endoplasmic viscosity changes partly or wholly related to ...

Tumor hypoxia figures heavily in malignant progression by altering the intracellular glucose metabolism and inducing angiogenic factor production, thus, selecting and expanding more aggressive cancer cell clones. Little is known, however, regarding hypoxia-induced antigenic changes in cancers. We investigated the expression of N-glycolyl sialic acid (NeuGc)-G(M2), a cancer-associated gangliosid...

Because alterations in cell membrane sialoglycoconjugates can affect the behavior of neoplastic cells, we investigated the effects of in vitro treatment with antimetabolites used in cancer therapy on the expression of membrane sialic acid in cultured HL-60 leukemic cells. In these studies, cells were incubated with Vibrio cholerae neuraminidase to remove surface sialic acid. Reappearance of mem...