Newsgroups: sci.med.aids Subject: CDC Summary 12/14/92 Message-ID: <1992Dec14.164719.5748@cs.ucla.edu> From: Billi Goldberg Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 08:00:57 PST AIDS Daily Summary December 14, 1992 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold. Copyright 1992, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD *********************************************************************** "Nation: AIDS Activists Stage Protest" Washington Times (12/14/92), P. A2 ACT-UP conducted a demonstration yesterday outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, claiming the Catholic Church has lobbied against gay-tolerance education in schools. About 100 demonstrators gathered across the street from the church carrying signs that read "Angry Gay Catholic" and "Just Another Altar Boy Fighting to End the AIDS Crisis." The protest was spurred by the recent debate over the "Children of the Rainbow" multicultural curriculum, which incorporates two books about homosexual relationships for use classes for students as young as six years old. Cardinal John J. O'Connor was one of the adversaries of the curriculum. Last week, Schools Chancellor Joseph Fernandez suspended School Board 24 in Queens for rejecting the curriculum. The board was subsequently reinstated by the Board of Education. "Report Cites 40 AIDS Deaths" New York Times (12/14/92), P. C7 AIDS has recently led to the deaths of at least 40 male skaters and coaches in the top ranks of North American figure skating, according to The Calgary Herald. Also, the newspaper reported yesterday that at least a dozen others in Canada and the United States are infected with HIV or currently have AIDS. The newspaper said it based the report on two months of interviews involving about 125 skaters, coaches, judges, officials, AIDS patients, and their friends and families. The AIDS deaths cited by The Herald include the three- time Canadian champion Brian Pokar of Calgary; the 1988 Canadian Olympic dance bronze medalist Rob McCall; the former world junior champion Dennis Coi, also a Canadian; the choreographer Andre Denis; and Shaun McGill, a world professional silver medalist for Canada in 1988. The Herald said among those who died of AIDS-related diseases, were Tim Brown of the United States, who became a member of the Canada Ice Dance Theatre during the 1970s, and John Carrell, who was a member of the National Ballet of Canada. "AIDS Kills Eldest Ray Brother" Washington Times (12/14/92), P. A5 Ricky Ray, the eldest of three HIV-positive hemophiliac brothers, died yesterday of the disease at age 15, according to family members. Ricky and his brothers, Robert, 14, and Randy, 13, who all contracted HIV via tainted blood products, once faced highly publicized discrimination by a local school that prohibited them from attending. The school did so only on the grounds that the boys were infected with HIV. The Ray family performed a bedside vigil with Ricky, who earlier had returned to his home in Orlando for Thanksgiving after being hospitalized for a months in St. Petersburg. He was unable to eat solid food or sit up and needed an oxygen mask to help with his breathing. Ricky died about 3 a.m. in his home yesterday. Last month, President-elect Bill Clinton telephoned Ricky to show his support. Related Story: Washington Post (12/14) P. D8 "Councilman Vows Fight on AIDS Facility" United Press International (12/13/92) Pittsburgh--City Councilman Duane Darkins is threatening to pursue a court battle over a city agency's decision to allow a former East End nursing home to be converted into a facility for AIDS patients. Along with many other citizens, Darkins opposes the facility, claiming that the area is already overwhelmed with social service facilities. After debating the issue for six months, the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Appeals recently approved the conversion of the former nursing home into a 22-bed "personal care boarding home" for people with various debilitating illnesses, including AIDS. The project is proposed by the Verona House Corp., a cooperative effort of the Presbyterian Association on Aging, Allegheny General Hospital, and the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. However, Darkins said other sites could be used for the facility. Darkins, who is a pastor in the Homewood section and is a potential mayoral candidate next year, said his constituents are "tired of our community being used as a dumping center." Adversaries also claimed that the AIDS center would subsequently lower property values of the area. But advocates say that such a facility is urgently needed to treat an increasing number of people affected not only by AIDS, but also muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and other ailments. The Zoning Board said that the burden in the case was on the adversaries "to establish that there would be a general detrimental effect to the neighborhood" if the personal care home were approved. "N.J. Panel Backs Free Condoms and Needles Proposals" United Press International (12/11/92) Trenton, N.J.--Condoms should be offered to high school students and inmates, and clean needles should be available to drug addicts to help thwart the spread of HIV infection in New Jersey, according to a panel of 48 health experts. The recommendations are among 45 contained in a 57-page report submitted to Gov. Jim Florio on Friday by the Governor's Advisory Council on AIDS . The report stresses the need for immediate action, compassion for the ill, and significantly more money to fight AIDS. The council cautioned, "The HIV-AIDS epidemic is not just a disease of the gay community or of injection drug users" but that HIV infection through drug use, heterosexual contact, and from mother to child are escalating. The council commended efforts on addressing AIDS, but was critical of the "disjointed, inadequate, and often too slow" response to the epidemic that lacks a "spirit of compassion." The council said, "Our future generation is at risk," stating that New Jersey ranks fifth in the country with 13,572 AIDS cases as of June 1992, and nearly 50,000 others involving people who are HIV-positive. The council said that New Jersey's prevalence of HIV infection among women is the highest in the nation and twice the national rate. Also, the state is third in the number of children and infants infected with HIV, accounting for 10 percent of all juvenile AIDS cases in the country. The report predicts that the current cost of treating AIDS patients should be about $4 billion, a bill that will increase to $10 billion within several years based on rising infection rates and the increasing cost of health care. "The Most Powerful Icon of the '90s?" Brandweek (11/30/92) Vol. 33, No.45, P. 14 (Fleury, Rick) The red ribbons worn in support of AIDS have become the universal icon of the epidemic, continuously signifying empathy for those living with the disease and hope that the epidemic will end one day soon. The Ribbon Project was started by Visual AIDS, a group comprised of painters, sculptors, arts writers, critics, curators, museum administrators, gallery owners, and others involved in the arts. There is no exact number of how many red ribbons have been produced, but estimates run well into the hundreds of thousands. The idea for Visual AIDS was simple, according to its chairman, Patrick O'Connel. He said, "We wanted to use our talents and resources to address AIDS, to present artists' response to AIDS and how the epidemic has affected our audience." The concept for The Ribbon Project resulted from an April 1991 meeting of the Visual AIDS Artists' Caucus in New York. During a discussion of the proliferation of yellow ribbons honoring the soldiers of Operation Desert Storm, the idea emerged, said one member of Visual AIDS. AIDS advocates were noting the amount of money spent for AIDS care and research as only a fraction of the cost of the Persian Gulf War. But the artists did not want AIDS ribbons to create a dispute over the war. The meeting agreed that the point was to create a statement solely on AIDS. Subsequently, a "ribbon subcommittee" decided on the color of the ribbon, with a single, simple fold, and presented it to a general meeting of the Visual AIDS organization, where it was widely accepted. Two weeks later at the Tony Awards, host Jeremy Irons introduced the ribbon. Since then, the presence of the ribbons has become widespread. "HIV Antibody Testing and Posttest Counseling in the United States: Data From the 1989 National Health Interview Survey" American Journal of Public Health (11/92) Vol. 82, No. 11, P. 1533 (Anderson, John E. et al.) The 1989 National Health Interview Survey was used to determine how successful HIV counseling and testing programs have been in the United States, especially among those at increased risk for HIV infection. John E. Anderson and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga., found that 20 percent of the NHIS sample reported having been tested for HIV infection, mostly through blood donations. The percentage of NHIS respondents who reported that they had ever been tested for HIV antibodies increased from 15 to 10 percent of the population between the 1987 and 1989 NHIS surveys. In 1989, 13.7 percent had been tested through blood donations, 3.6 percent for voluntary reasons, and 3.2 percent as part of mandatory programs like those in the military or for immigration purposes. Among those who are at increased risk of HIV infection, 41.5 percent had been tested-- more than twice the rate of the general population. About half of the reported tests for this group were voluntary. The researchers predicted that by 1989, over 36 million persons had been tested at least once for HIV. In addition, for persons at high risk, the rate of receiving posttest counseling was 9.8 percent--over 10 times that of the total populations (0.9 percent). While persons with increased risk of HIV infection had been tested and counseled at a much higher rate than the general population, the majority of this group had not yet been tested, conclude Anderson et al. "The Progression of Untreated HIV-1 Infection Prior to AIDS" American Journal of Public Health (11/92) Vol. 82, No. 11, P. 1538 (Hoover, Donald R. et al.) Diagnosing AIDS at CD4 cell counts less than 200 could substantially reduce pre-AIDS morbidity, write Donald R. Hoover and colleagues from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. The researchers conducted a study to estimate the timing and impact of HIV- 1-induced effects on homosexual men during the period immediately preceding a diagnosis of AIDS. Beginning 2 to 2.5 years (5 visits) prior to an AIDS diagnosis, case subjects had more total symptoms than did their matched control subjects. The average total symptoms in case subjects increased to 1.19 (53.7 percent reporting at least one symptom) by 6 to 12 months prior to AIDS and to 1.93 within 6 months before AIDS. Immediately following an AIDS diagnosis, case subjects had an average of 4.00 total symptoms. Symptoms including thrush and fever were specific for imminent AIDS onset, being uncommon in the control subjects and, until 6 to 12 months prior to AIDS diagnosis, in the case subjects. The researchers found that not all individuals reported AIDS symptoms. Within six months prior to AIDS, 35 percent reported no symptoms. Also, within the six months following AIDS diagnosis, case subjects' unemployment increased to 9 percent and depression to 34.3 percent. At 6 to 12 months and within 6 months before AIDS, 17.1 percent and 31.5 percent respectively were anemic, while 37.7 percent and 64.7 percent had CD4 counts less than 200. "Homo for the Holidays" Advocate (12/15/92) No. 618, P. 62 (Chicklet) A contest is being conducted to incorporate the powerful imagery of the gay male erotic video with an educational safer-sex outreach program. It is sponsored by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Falcon Studios, and the San Francisco-based nonprofit media-arts organization Frameline. Wayne Blankenship, the foundation's contest coordinator, said, "Erotic videos really have a stronghold on gay men's fantasies and about how we feel about real-life sex. Unfortunately, because of government funding, AIDS organizations are not able to be explicit with their material. We are expected to take a 'be a nice boy and have a safer sex' approach. Our goal with this project is to combine hot erotica with safer-sex information in a usable and practical way." The main focus of the contest is to minimize the risk of HIV transmission while promoting sex, said Blankenship. Contest judges will be determining which filmmakers apply the most creative safer-sex techniques in the films. The videos will first be judged by AIDS educators and will then be critiqued by professional video producers and pornography stars on the basis of artistic and erotic merit. The contest is currently in progress and will end on March 1, 1993. Newsgroups: sci.med.aids Subject: Dendritic Cells and HIV Message-ID: <1992Dec14.164532.5662@cs.ucla.edu> From: Billi Goldberg Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 08:03:24 PST NEW STUDIES ON LC/DC AND DNCB Langerhans and dendritic cells are alive and well and still proving to be the key cells in the immunopathogenesis of AIDS. Langhoff's article is well worth reading as he also mentions follicular dendritic cells and the lymph node effect mentioned in Fauci's forthcoming article in the New England Journal of Medicine. Cumberbatch's article supports the idea the DNCB is a pure Th1 activator and does not cause immediate hypersensitivity problems as does most of the other biological response modifiers (BRM). The activation by Th1 of Ig2a (in mice) is very interesting. It appears to act against the exogenous particles of intracellular pathogens thus causing their destruction probably by opsonization resulting in phagocytosis or chemolysis. In mice, the IgG types are IgG1, IgG2a, IgG2b, and IgG3; in humans it is IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4. They have not yet determined which of the IgG isotypes is activated during the Th1 response in humans. *********************************************************************** * Langhoff E; Haseltine W. Infection Of Accessory Dendritic Cells By Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type-1. Journal Of Investigative Dermatology, 1992 Nov, V99 N5:S89-S94. Abstract: Many details of the pathogenesis of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 remain to be elucidated. Details of how the virus gains entry via the mucosal surface upon sexual contract or during breast feeding remain obscure. The means by which the infection travels throughout the body as well as the nature of the major reservoirs of virus infection remains, for the most part, unknown. Recent studies raise the possibility that cells of the Langerhans/dendritic lineage play a central role in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infection and pathogenesis. It has been known for several years that veiled dendritic cells in the circulation as well as skin Langerhans are infected in people with prolonged HIV-1 infections. More recently it has been found that a large burden of viral DNA sequences if found, not only in the circulating T-cell population, but also in a population that is defined as a non-T, non-B, non-monocyte/macrophage population rich in T-helper dendritic cells. Detailed analysis of infection of primary Blaud-derived T-helper dendritic cells by HIV-1 shows that such cells are the most susceptible cells in the blood to infection by this virus. The cells also produce much more virus per cell than do purified populations of other blood mononuclear cells. Moreover, primed blood-derived T-helper dendritic cells are not killed by infection by HIV-1. These cells are susceptible to lymphotropic, monocyte tropic, and primary isolates of HIV-1. The sensitivity of primary blood-derived T-helper dendritic cells to infection by HIV-1 has been shown to be attributed to rapid uptake of virus particles as well as rapid synthesis of viral DNA. Subsequent steps of virus replication also occur more rapidly and more efficiently in populations of primary blood-derived T-helper dendritic cells than they do in purified preparations of blood-derived T cells and monocytes/macrophages. Studies with primates using the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) show that dendritic cells at the surface of sexual mucosa are rapidly infected upon exposure to high concentrations of the virus. SIV is also produced in abundance in Langerhans cells located at the surface of the sexual mucosa in animals infected for prolonged periods of time. *********************************************************************** * Cumberbatch M; Gould S; Peters S; Basketter D; Dearman; Kimber I; Langerhans Cells, Antigen Presentation, And The Diversity Of Responses To Chemical Allergens. Journal Of Investigative Dermatology, 1992 Nov, V99 N5:S107-S108. Abstract: Respiratory and contact chemical allergens provoke differential immune responses in mice, stimulating preferentially T helper-2 (TH2) and TH1 cells respectively. In an attempt to discover whether such differences are effected at the level of antigen handling and presentation we have examined the effect of topical exposure to trimellitic anhydride (TMA), a respirator allergen, and 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), a contact allergen, on Langerhans cell (LC) MHC class II (Ia) expression. Neither chemical caused a significant change in LC size. As measured by analytical flow cytometry, exposure to DNCB resulted in a tide-dependent increase in LC Ia expression that exceed 160% of control values within 24 h. Exposure to concentrations of TMA that caused an equivalent activation of draining lymph nodes failed to affect Ia expression by LC. Application of sodium lauryl sulfate at concentrations that caused edema also failed to influence LC Ia. These data demonstrate that TMA and DNCB exert differential effects on epidermal LC, possibly indicative of differences in antigen handling. Page 107S: Thus, for example, despite evidence for occupation exposure and for the development of occupational allergic contact dermatitis, 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) does not induce respiratory hypersensitivity. We hypothesized that the failure of DNCB to induce IgE antibody was attributable to a preferential activation of TH1 cells and, conversely, that a selective activation of TH2 cells by TMA would be consistent with the ability of this chemical to provide IgE responses and to cause respiratory hypersensitivity. Support for this hypothesis derived from analysis of the isotype distribution of IgG anti-hapten antibody induced following exposure to these chemical. IFN-gamma, but not TH2 cytokines promotes production of the IgG2a isotype. We found that DNCB resulted in a substantially stronger IgG2a that IgG2b antibody response. In contract, exposure to TMA provoked significantly less IgG2a than IgG2b antibody. Subsequent investigations with other chemicals have confirmed that respiratory allergens induce immune responses characteristic of the selective activation of TH2 cells, whereas contact allergens that apparently lack the potential for respiratory sensitization stimulate preferentially TH1-type responses. *********************************************************************** Newsgroups: sci.med.aids Subject: Re: Heterosexual Transmission Message-ID: <1992Dec14.191441.9632@cs.ucla.edu> From: rpetsche@mrg.tmc.edu (Rolfe G. Petschek) Date: 13 Dec 1992 21:50:31 GMT Reply-To: rpetsche@mrg.PHYS.CWRU.Edu (Rolfe G. Petschek) In article <1992Dec10.170814.22295@cs.ucla.edu> bhjelle%carina.unm.edu@lynx.unm.edu () writes: s reflects on something I have wondered about for some time... often are cases of heterosexually-transmitted HIV wrongly ribed to IV drug usage? Just imagine if one of the 52 opositive women had a past history of drug usage- that ld have then been the "risk category" for that person. o wish there was a way to look into that. This is, in principle possible: Interview many women determining if they have had heterosexual sex, if they are IV drug abusers and if they are HIV positive. If they have had heterosexual sex and/or are IV drug abusers, if possible (to check) determine if they have had sex with HIV+ men and/or if they have used risky IV drug proceedures. List all the resultant likelihoods e.g. the probabilty that a woman is HIV+ given that she is an IV drug abuser whether or not she has had heterosexual sex (p), the probability that she is HIV+ given she has had heterosexual sex whether or not she is an IV drug abuser, etc. etc. Statistical analysis of this data in principle will give an idea as to the rates at which persons with multiple risk factors are `incorrectly' ascribed to a `wrong' risk factor. Such a study would be easier in males were the rates are higher. Personally it would be my expectation that persons who have sex have probability p of being HIV- and persons who are IV drug abusers have probability q of being HIV- then the probability r that persons who both have sex and are IV drug abusers are HIV- is less than pq. To say x% of the cases are due to sex, y% to IV drug abuse you really need pq=r. This expectation follows from a variety of feelings including the fact that risky sex / prostitution is correlated with IV drug abuse and that sex with a person who is HIV+ (e.g. contracted by IV drug abuse) is more likely if you yourself are an IV drug abuser. I also believe that the fraction of women who are IV drug abusers who are HIV+ is very significantly larger than the fraction of women who have heterosexual sex (even promiscuous heterosexual sex) and are HIV+. This likely means that virtually all cases in IV drug abusing women are ascribed to the IV drug abuse and that this, while incorrect, does not *seriously* overstate the risks of IV drug abuse or *seriously* understate the risks of heterosexual sex. -- Rolfe G. Petschek Petschek@cwru.bitnet Associate Professor of Physics rgp@po.cwru.edu Case Western Reserve University (216)368-4035 Cleveland Oh 44106-7079 Newsgroups: sci.med.aids Subject: Radio Havana Cuba Dec. 7, 1992 Message-ID: <1992Dec14.141542.2810@cs.ucla.edu> From: radiohc@ceniai.cu (Radio Habana Cuba) Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 04:04:32 PST CUBA MARKS WORLD DAY AGAINST AIDS Havana, Dec. 7(RHC)-- CONDI, a condom sporting a happy face and a pair of big feet, walked along Havana's sea side drive Saturday afternoon, inviting teenagers to think about safe sex. CONDI is the logo of of the UJC-- Union of Young Communists-- AIDS prevention campaign. Cuban rock stars Tanya and Edesio Alejandro joined voices Saturday afternoon to wrap up activities marking World Day against AIDS. Hundreds of Havana teens gathered at the city's seaside drive to attend the launching of the AIDS education campaign, promoted by the Union of Young Communists and the National Center for Health Education. Under the banner HAZLO CONMIGO--DO IT WITH ME--the campaign is aimed to promote the use of condoms. In Cuba, direct sexual contact is the single most important primary source of AIDS infection, since intravenous drug use is virtually nill; and all blood supplies and donations are screened for the HIV-virus. Maternal-fetal transmission is also practically non-existent, and all expectant mothers receive comprehensive, free prenatal checkups --including HIV tests. Sixty percent of HIV-positive people in Cuba contracted the virus through heterosexual intercourse; and nearly 40% through homosexual intercourse. In all cases, the average age of people testing HIV-positive is going down: the average age of Cuba's over 800 seropositive persons has dipped to 19. In Cuba as a whole, 54% of the population is under 30. "The alarming issue," says psychologist Lourdes Flores, "is that young people have a sense of false security, because AIDS is not an epidemic in Cuba and because public education has not reached them to convince them they are in danger". AIDS will affect some 20 million people worldwide by the year 2000, according to statistics released this summer at the 9th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, held in Holland. In Cuba, 81 people in a population of nearly 11 million have died from AIDS. Some 12 million tests have been carried out. According to Psychologist Manuel Hernandez, the island carried out a series of activities prior to the World Day against AIDS, December 1st. Every province organized its own set of activities ranging from bicycle competitions, live-music concerts and theater. And El Pabellon Cuba, a popular teen center in the heart of downtown Havana, aired documentaries on AIDS prevention, followed by discussions led by health specialists. During Saturday's activities, singer Hugo Lopez, one of the AIDS patients at Havana's sanatorium, performed for the young crowd and some 700 T-shirts with the banner of the campaign silk- screened on them, were distributed among participants. Newsgroups: sci.med.aids Subject: Sex Hormones and the Immune System Message-ID: <1992Dec14.133039.1889@cs.ucla.edu> From: Billi Goldberg Date: Sun, 13 Dec 92 23:17:42 PST SEX HORMONES AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM The adrenal cortex synthesizes two classes of steroids: the corticosteroids (glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids), and the androgens. The major corticosteroids (cortisol, corticosterone, and aldosterone) are shown together with the androgens (dehydroepiandrosterone, androstenedione, and testosterone). The corticosteroids are known to be immunosuppressive; androgens don't appear to be much better. Testosterone has been proposed for use in HIV+ positive males since some individuals have low levels of this sex hormone. It has been stated that there have been no adverse effects in males from injections of testosterone. From the information below, maybe they should inject conjugated estrogens rather than testosterone. *********************************************************************** * Encyclopedia of Immunology, Sex Hormones and Immunity, page 1371. "There is also an effect of estrogen macrophages which are very important in processing and presenting antigen. Female rats have more macrophages than males. Estrogen treatment of male rats increases macrophage numbers. Estrogens are also potent stimulators of phagocytosis by macrophages and reticuloendothelial cells. The activity of macrophages varies with the estrus cycle. Estrogens modulate macrophage phagocytic activity and stimulate reticulo-endothelial cells. Estrogens enhance phagocytic clearance of immunoglobulin-coated erythrocytes, an Fc receptor dependent activity. "Macrophages from estrogen treated animals show increased lysis of tumors and inhibit the growth of tumor cells. Testosterone has insignificant effects on macrophages. Estrogens stimulate production of IL-1 by macrophages as well as expression of Ia [MHC Class II] molecules on the surface of peritoneal macrophages." *********************************************************************** * Hirasawa K; Enosawa S. Sex-associated differences in organ transplantation: different effects of steroid hormones, testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, and prednisolone on the survival time of allogeneic skin graft in rats treated with cyclosporin A. Transplantation Proceedings, 1991 Feb, 23(1 Pt 1):714-5. Abstract: Adult male recipients could accept allogeneic skin graft with CyA treatment alone for considerably long periods, whereas young male and female, and adult females were not susceptible to the immunosuppression. When testosterone or prednisolone was administered with CyA as a combination therapy to young male and adult female recipients, the survival time of the graft was significantly prolonged. On the contrary, estradiol totally inhibited the immunosuppressive activity of CyA in any recipients. These present data strongly suggested that immunoreactivity against transplantation antigens can be influenced by sex steroid hormones, and that the usage of steroid combination therapy may overcome the lack of immunosuppression by CyA induced by the female sex steroid estradiol. *********************************************************************** * Hirasawa K; Enosawa S. Effects of sex steroid hormones on sex-associated differences in the survival time of allogeneic skin grafts in rats. Evidence that testosterone enhances and estradiol reverses the immunosuppressive activity of cyclosporine. Transplantation, 1990 Oct, 50(4):637-41. Abstract: Three-week-old DA (RT1a) male and female rats were pretreated with either orchiectomy or ovariectomy and administration of the opposite-sex steroid hormones, estradiol or testosterone. Skin from same-sex AO (RT1a) rats was then grafted when these pretreated rats reached 14 weeks of age, with a short course of immunosuppressive treatment of cyclosporine. The survival times of the grafts were reversed in that the male recipients pretreated to be like females acutely rejected the graft within 10 days as do normal adult female recipients. On the other hand, the female recipients pretreated to be like males accepted the graft as do normal adult male recipients. In addition, the synergistic effects of either testosterone or estradiol with CsA on the survival time of the graft were examined. Testosterone successfully prolonged graft survival on normal adult female and young male recipients, but negligible prolongation was observed on young females. In contrast, estradiol abrogated the immunosuppressive activity of CsA and accelerated graft rejection in both male and female recipients. *********************************************************************** * Mendenhall CL; Grossman CJ; Roselle GA; Hertelendy Z; Ghosn SJ; Lamping K; Martin K. Anabolic steroid effects on immune function: differences between analogues. Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 1990 Sep, 37(1):71-6. Abstract: As an untoward effect of chronic anabolic steroid use, immunologic alterations may be induced. To evaluate this possibility five commercially available steroids with various types of structural differences were studied in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Animals were divided into five groups and treated with testosterone (Group 1), testosterone propionate (Group 2), testolactone (Group 3), oxandrolone (Group 4), and stanozolol (Group 5). Androgenic anabolic steroids were administered daily, subcutaneously dissolved in oil, at a dose of 1.1 mg/kg. Immune alterations were assessed by skin-test responses to phytohemagglutinin. After five days of treatment (1.1 mg/kg/day) a significant immuno-suppression was observed with all groups. However, by day 10, groups 3, 4, and 5 showed an immuno-stimulation. Using oxandrolone as the model stimulant, serum testosterone levels were significantly suppressed, while castration abolished the stimulatory effect. These observations indicate that immune alterations do occur with anabolic steroids which are immuno-suppressive when the steroid nucleus is intact and immuno-stimulatory with nuclear alterations. It appears that these changes are associated with altered gonadal testosterone release. ***********************************************************************