Leucocytes

It has been shown that sideroleukocyte formation in
equine infectious anemia is related to the presence of
detectable amounts of ferritin in the serum of the infected
animal. The presence of ferritin has been associated with
tissue breakdown as a result of the infectious process.
A relatively simple agar diffusion technique has been reported
which is of value in the screening of horses for the
acute phase of equine infectious anemia.
It has further been shown that infected leukocytes can
be induced to form sideroleukocytes earlier and in greater
number by the addition of ferritin or calcium. Non-infected
horses can not be induced to form sideroleukocytes by the
addition of only ferritin or calcium or infected sera.
However, addition of both ferritin and calcium does cause
induction of sideroleukocytes in normal leukocytes.
Levels of serum calcium in infected horses were shown
to be inversely proportional to both temperature of the
animal and the formation of sideroleukocytes.
The data indicated the important role of serum levels
of ferritin and calcium to the mechanism of sideroleukocyte
formation both in vivo and in vitro.

This project used a bioinformatics approach to identify the genetic differential expression of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) white blood cells as compared to normal white blood cells. Several public access databases and data mining tools were used to collect these data. The data collected was validated by independent bioinformatics databases and the methodology was supported by previously published "gene chip" differential expression data. This research identifies a pattern of differential gene expression specific to CLL white blood cells that can be used for the early diagnosis of CLL. The study also identifies the probable genetic origin for the low expression of tyrosine kinase and IgM immunoglobulin observed in CLL B-cells. Also presented are genes associated with chromosomal regions previously reported as deleted in a high percentage of CLL cases. These data can be used in further research and for the treatment of CLL.