Assuntos
Doenças Autoimunes/diagnóstico , Crioglobulinemia/diagnóstico , Doenças do Complexo Imune/diagnóstico , Paraproteinemias/diagnóstico , Complexo Antígeno-Anticorpo/isolamento & purificação , Crioglobulinas/isolamento & purificação , Feminino , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Fator Reumatoide/isolamento & purificaçãoRESUMO
Immune complexes (IC) were detected in rheumatoid sera by means of anti-antibody (AA) neutralization tests. The sera with rheumatoid factor (RF) that did not agglutinate human Rh+ erythrocytes sensitized by incomplete Rh antibodies, Ripley, could be tested in an AA neutralization test without any further treatment. On the other hand, 'Ripley-positive' sera had to be treated with 2-mercaptoethanol or dithiothreitol in order to destroy RF. IC-containing sera were further studied for dispersion of IC by collagen. Surprisingly, roughly 50% of IC-containing sera were affected by collagen in that they lost AA-neutralizing activity completely or partially. Significantly, very similar results were obtained with collagen type I, collagen type II and denatured collagen type II. It was concluded that these sera contained IC formed by denatured collagen and its antibodies. Further experiments were devoted to the study of the effect of collagen on reactions of RF with Ripley-sensitized erythrocytes. In several sera, the addition of collagen eliminated the prozone. This was interpreted as deblocking of RF due to the dispersion of the blocking IC by an excess of collagen. In other sera, the addition of collagen seemed to remove or block RF. This blocking effect was interpreted as a neutralization of multispecific RF by collagen. An alternative explanation proposed that collagen formed IC with free anti-collagen antibodies and that these IC blocked the RF.
Assuntos
Complexo Antígeno-Anticorpo , Artrite Reumatoide/imunologia , Colágeno/imunologia , Anticorpos Anti-Idiotípicos/imunologia , Artrite Reumatoide/sangue , Artrite Reumatoide/diagnóstico , Humanos , Imunoglobulina M/biossíntese , Testes de Fixação do Látex , Testes de Neutralização , Sistema do Grupo Sanguíneo Rh-Hr/imunologia , Fator Reumatoide/imunologiaRESUMO
Four hundred and forty-nine syphilis sera, positive in VDRL and FTA-ABS tests, were studied for the presence of circulating immune complexes (CIC) by means of anti-antibody (AA) neutralization test. Ninety-three (20.7%) sera had demonstrable CIC. Subsequently, dispersion of CIC by saline suspension of cardiolipin and by extract of rabbit testicular syphiloma was examined. Of 40 CIC-containing sera tested with cardiolipin, dispersion of CIC was noted in 16 instances; of 32 CIC-containing sera examined with syphiloma extract, dispersion was noted in 16 cases. Significantly, CIC that showed definite dispersion by cardiolipin were not dispersed by syphiloma extract and vice versa. Some studies were also performed on lepromatous leprosy and SLE. None of 27 cIC-containing lepromatous leprosy sera were affected by cardiolipin, but in 2 of 9 CIC-containing SLE sera, cardiolipin dispersed the complexes. Cardiolipin-anti-cardiolipin complexes that neutralized AA were frequently observed when cardiolipin was added to sera containing its corresponding antibodies but not CIC. Similar reactions were noted between the syphiloma extract and anti-treponemal antibodies.
Assuntos
Complexo Antígeno-Anticorpo/análise , Sífilis/imunologia , Animais , Cardiolipinas , Humanos , Hanseníase/imunologia , Lúpus Eritematoso Sistêmico/imunologia , Masculino , Testes de Neutralização , Coelhos , Sífilis/diagnóstico , Testículo/imunologiaRESUMO
A total of 2560 sera from patients with and without rheumatoid diseases were examined for the incidence of monoclonal proteins. The incidence of monoclonal protein was higher (3.3%) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis than with other non-rheumatoid diseases of connective tissue (0.7%). Of 16 monoclonal proteins found in rheumatoid arthritis, 15 were IgG and 1 IgA; 7 sera belonged to the kappa and 9 to lambda type.