Intraocular lymphoma was encountered in 11.4% of the 79 examined patients with malignant lymphoma of the central nervous system. In most cases it had occurred long on an average of 26 months before the development of neurological manifestations and the diagnosis of cerebral lymphoma. Biomicroscopy showed intraocular lymphoma to manifest itself as corneal endothelial precipitation of translucent corpuscles, opacity of the vitreous body, and its posterior detachment. Isolated intraocular lymphoma has been misinterpreted as uveitis of unclear etiology. In this connection, resistance to steroidal and antibacterial therapy should be an indication for diagnostic vitrectomy, followed by an immunohistochemical study of a biopsy specimen. The intraarterial administration of methotrexate, by breaking the blood-brain barrier, caused regression of cerebral lymphoma, but did not result in that of intraocular lymphoma, on this basis the authors consider the intravitreal injection of the agent to be indicated.

In the article authors summarize the experience of new anticancer drug polyplatillen usud in the chemoradiotherapy of small cell lung cancer. Polyplatillen improves the tumor response, general and relapse-free survival of advanced small cell lung cancer treatment in comparance with traditional VEC scheme.

Derivatives of the available plant triterpenes glycyrrhetic acid and betulin (betulin succinates and amides of betulonic and 18beta-glycyrrhetic acids containing fragments of long-chain amino acids and a peptide) were synthesized. The inhibitory action of these compounds on the growth of MT-4, MOLT-4, CEM. and Hep G2 tumor cells and their effect on the apoptosis of these cells were studied. It was shown that betulonic acid amides are more effective inhibitors of the tumor cell growth than the corresponding amides of glycyrrhetic acid. It was also found that betulonic acid amides containing fragments of caprylic, pelargonic, and undecanoic acids are more effective inhibitors of tumor cell growth than betulinic acid. The 17-dipeptide derivative of betulonic acid N-{N-[3-oxo-20(29)-lupen-28-oyl]-9-aminononanoyl}-3-amino-3-phenylpropionic acid exhibited the maximum inhibitory activity toward the tumor cells studied. Data on the induction of apoptosis in tumor cells by betulin derivatives at a concentration of 10 microg/ml were obtained by flow cytometry. The amides of betulonic acid proved to be the most effective inducers of apoptosis.

The paper describes the experience in using capsule endoscopy to diagnose small bowel lesions during and after chemoradiation therapy in patients with diagnosed Hodgkin's lymphoma and an attempt to compare the current views of normal tissue response to ionizing radiation, as well as drugs used for chemotherapy.

The authors discuss the present-day state of search for antitumoral compounds at Blokhin Russian Oncological Research Center and promising approaches including computer technologies as means of search for new anticancerous targets and drugs.

Paclitaxel (single intravenous injection in a maximum tolerated dose of 4.6 mg/kg) to white outbred rats causes bone marrow hypoplasia, increased granulocyte and erythroid cell mitosis (metaphase-anaphase transition), and moderate pancytopenia developments in peripheral blood (hypoplastic anemia, deep, short-term neutropenia, lymphopenia and thrombocytopenia) in the first hours after injection. A considerable increase of polyploidy (4n) cells and a moderate increase in the structural changes (chromatid deletions) of chromosomes was observed on bone marrow metaphase plates in 24 h. The drug introduction causes earlier increase in the rate of thymus cells mitosis, a growth in the number of thymocytes with apoptosis signs, and a moderate decrease in the thymus and spleen weight. All changes are reversible. Long-term (90 days after injection) observation revealed decreased lymphocyte count in the peripheral blood and bone marrow and earlier thymus involution.

A4 clone cells, received by CD95-mediated selection from the parental line of Jurkat T-lymphoblast human leukosis, lost their ability of apoptosis as a result of programmed cell death mechanism breakdown. The complex of their acquired phenotypic properties meets tumor progression criteria: oxidative stress resistance, active immune suppression, and low requirement for growth factors. The loss of A4 cell ability of apoptosis is accompanied by acquisition of the phenotype of multiple medication resistance to a wide spectrum of antineoplastic chemotherapeutic drugs and cytotoxins.

Effect of combined use of doxorubicin and ceftriaxone on 5 strains of Staphylococcus aureus (standard S. aureus ATCC 29213 and 4 isolated strains) was studied. The method of passages in meat-pepton broth with constant and increasing concentrations of ceftriaxone in presence of 1/2 and 1/4 minimum inhibitory concentration of doxorubicin was used. It has been shown that doxorubicin in such concentrations does not influence on the development of resistance of tested strains to ceftriaxone. The combination of doxorubicin as anti-tumor drug with intercalary action and ceftriaxone does not increase the risk of development of resistance of staphylococci to antibiotics, which has a matter during their combined use.

The effect of different doses of synthetic antioxidant beta-(4-hydroxy-3,5-ditertbutylphenyl)propionic acid (phenosan) on the development of spontaneous leukemia in AKR mice was studied. The drug efficiency was determined from the survival curves, animal life spans, and the incidence of leukemia. Phenosan exhibited a pronounced antitumor activity at therapeutic (10(-4) mol/kg, 4 administrations) and ultra-low (10(-14) mol/kg, 4 administrations) doses. The dose of 10(-4) mol/kg proved most efficient to increase the life span of the shortlived subpopulation, while the dose of 10(-14) mol/kg increased the life span of the long-lived subpopulation. The ultra-low dose of the drug seems promising as a prophylactic agent.

The data on the discovery, specific features and evolution of the aftereffects of functioning in the cells of the ABC-transporters Pgp, MRP and BCRP, the markers of multiple drug resistance (MDRABC), are discussed. The results of the estimate of the MDRABC phenotype of human solid tumors were critically analyzed using different methodic approaches. It was shown that the frequency of the MDRABC phenotype detection by expression of the genes, encoding the ABC-transporter synthesis, was higher than that in detection of transport proteins in the cell. It was concluded that the only adequate clinical method for diagnosis of the MDRABC phenotype could be differential estimate of the functional activity of the ABC-transporters controlling not only the drug release to the cell, but also the drug intracellular compartmentization or division between the cytoplasm and nucleus.

An actinomycete strain designated as Actinomadura sp. INA 654 was isolated from a chernozem soil sample in the Voronezh Region by the soil sample treatment with millimetric waves (EHF band). The strain produced an antibiotic complex of 2 components, named A-654-I and A-654-II. Investigation of their physico-chemical properties showed that A-654-I was identical to echinomycin, a heteropeptide lactone of the quinoxaline group with antitumor activity, while A-654-II proved to be likely a new natural compound. Production of echinomycin by a representative of the Actinomadura genus was detected for the first time. Up to now, only representatives of the Streptomyces genus were known to produce echinomycin.

A principle possibility of antitumour activity test in bacterial system represented by Escherichia coil of the wild type and its MS2-induced mutant has been shown. The initial bacterial strain is an indicator of toxic properties of the tested substances and the mutant one is a specific test-culture modelling a tumour cell. The comparison of the data described for eucaryotes with the data obtained using the proposed bacterial test system confirms an adequate response of both strains to the substances with the proved antitumour properties. The data are considered as very promising for the further improvement of this test system towards its application for primary screening of antitumour substances.

The results of our study showed, that long-term combined medical treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (Finasteride 5 mg/day + Tamsulosin 0.4 mg/day) significantly decreases values of IPSS and residual urine volume (RUV) in patients, which basic level of bFGF in serum does not exceed 5.9 pg/ml. On the other hand pharmacological treatment was insufficient in patients with bFGF basic level equal or more than 5.9 pg/ml; values of IPSS and RUV did not decrease.

We have recently synthesized a lipid conjugate of the anticancer agent methotrexate (MTX-DG) and showed that the conjugate is quantitatively included in the lipid bilayer of liposomes prepared by a standard extrusion technique from an 8 : 1 : 1 (mol) egg phosphatidylcholine-yeast phosphatidylinositol-MTX-DG mixture. Both the size of liposomes (126 +/- 30 nm) and the MTX-DG concentration (4.4 mM) are relevant for systemic injections in mammals. The liposomal formulation of MTX-DG was shown to overcome the resistance of tumor cells in vitro to methotrexate: the cytotoxic activities (IC50) of MTX in cultures of the human T-lymphoblastic leukemia cell line CEM-CCRF and the MTX-resistant subline CEM/MTX were 0.075 +/- 0.005 and 16.4 +/- 4.9 microM, respectively, while, in the case of liposomes loaded with MTX-DG, the IC50 values were much closer: 0.77 +/- 0.06 and 3.8 +/- 1.9 microM.

To study efficacy of velcade therapy in patients with progressive or refractory multiple myeloma (MM).

To test feasibility of transplantation of hemopoietic stem cells (THSC) with conditioning in low-intensity regimen associated with minimal toxic complications and engraftment in patients with hematological malignancy (HM) from a high risk group.