[Effects of pregnancy on the course of systemic lupus erythematosus]. / Vliianie beremennosti na techenie sistemnoi krasnoi volchanki.

A SLE course has been analyzed retrospectively in pregnancy and after delivery for 34 patients (44 pregnancies). Aggravation of the disease was registered in 6 cases (13.5%). Only two of them received prophylactic corticosteroid maintenance. Two SLE patients with unaffected kidneys had no pregnancy-related SLE exacerbations though they developed nephropathy of the pregnant. After delivery the disease aggravated in 12 patients (27.3%). Five patients had moderate exacerbations within half a year after the delivery, seven patients developed severe exacerbations within 3-11 postnatal months. Five out of seven women presented nephrotic syndrome. One of the patients died of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. Three women had renal damage after the delivery as initial condition. SLE exacerbations were reported more frequently in young patients (under 30, in 15 of 31 pregnancies) than in older ones (over 30, in 3 of 13 pregnancies). Postnatal SLE aggravations can be prevented by large doses of prednisolone (20-30 mg/day) administered for 2-3 weeks.

[Antibodies to the structural proteins of the measles virus studied in some chronic diseases]. / Issledovanie antitel k strukturnym belkam virusa kori pri nekotorykh khronicheskikh zabolevaniiakh.

The qualitative and quantitative analysis of antibodies to measles virus (MV) structural proteins (SP) in sera from patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN), chronic active hepatitis (CAH), and liver cirrhosis (LC) was done. The patients were shown to have neutralizing antibody titres (NAT) higher than those in healthy subjects. An analysis of antibodies to SP was carried out by the radioimmunoprecipitation assay. Antibodies were detected to hemagglutinin, nucleoprotein (NP), fusion protein and to matrix protein (M) both in sera from the patients with these chronic diseases, healthy subjects, and patients with active measles. (The two latter groups were selected for comparison). However, some patients with CAH and LC had no antibodies to M protein in spite of very high NAT. The quantitative analysis of MV antibodies to SP was done only for NP because this antibody had the least individual variations. The quantity of anti-NP antibodies was higher in most sera from patients with chronic diseases than in those from healthy subjects, and reached the level of that in patients with active measles. The presence of MV genome in the peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients CAH, CGN, and LC had been shown earlier. So it is assumed that MV persists in lymphoid tissue where the expression of all SP genes is realized.

[Hemorrhagic vasculitis and the hepatitis B virus]. / Gemorragicheskii vaskulit i virus gepatita B.

Twenty-one patients with hemorrhagic vasculitis (HV) were examined for HBsAg, nine for HBeAg, anti-HBe, anti-HBc, anti-HBs. HBV markers were identified in 6 out of 21 patients (29.6%): HBsAg in 5 cases (one of them also anti-HBc and anti-HBe), anti-HBs in 1 case. The history of HV ranged from 4 months to 8 years. Normal serum transaminase was seen in 5 out of 6 patients with HBV markers. It was somewhat elevated in 1 of the examinees due to cytostatic treatment in parallel growing of HBsAg titer. Cryoglobulins occurred in 3 out of 6 cases. Renal biopsy from 3 HBV markers carriers identified mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis in all of them.

[Persistence of the measles virus genome in peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with glomerulonephritis and systemic lupus erythematosus]. / Persistentsiia genoma virusa kori v limfotsitakh perifericheskoi krovi u bol'nykh glomerulonefritom i sistemnoi krasnoi volchankoi.

Punctate hybridization was used to examine measles virus genome in peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with glomerulonephritis (GN) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Measles virus genome was revealed in 47 (54%) out of 87 GN patients, in 27 (74%) out of 36 SLE patients and in none of the control group patients. GN patients manifested a tendency towards increase of the rate of measles virus demonstration with the rise of the titres of measles antibodies. All SLE patients with a high antibody titre (1:512 and higher) demonstrated measles virus genome. The rate of measles virus genome demonstration in GN and SLE patients did not depend on the sex, age, duration and clinical disease pattern or the content of IgA, IgM, IgG in blood serum. During disease exacerbation, the rate of measles virus demonstration was higher in 41 (59.4%) out of 69 patients than during remission--in 6 (33.3%) out of 18 patients (p less than 0.05).

[Detection of the measles virus genome in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with chronic and acute glomerulonephritis]. / Vyiavlenie genoma virusa kori v limfotsitakh perifericheskoi krovi bol'nykh khronicheskim i ostrym glomerulonefritom.

The presence of the measles (rubeola) virus genome was searched for in the lymphocytes from the peripheral blood of patients suffering from the acute (16 persons) or chronic (164 persons) glomerulonephritis. Dot hybridization technique with the plasmid borne probes to the measles viral genes NP, P and H have been used for the search. The measles viral genome has been detected in 58% of lymphocytes from the patients with the chronic glomerulonephritis and in 50% of lymphocytes from the patients suffering from the acute form of the disease. The genome was not found in the material from the control group including donors and traumatology ward patients. 25 samples of lymphocytes from the patients with the chronic glomerulonephritis contained the RNA that was not hybridizable with the viral genes probes by dot hybridization technique, thus containing no genes homologous to parotitis viral genes. The average titer of anti-measles antibodies in the serum from patients with chronic glomerulonephritis the lymphocytes of which contained the measles viral genome was 1:304, while it was 1:154 for patients with the negative probes. The average anti-measles antibodies titers are the same (1:166 and 1:142) for analogical groups of patients with acute form of disease.

[The fluorescent antibody method in the diagnosis of hepatitis B virus infection in glomerulonephritis patients]. / Metod fliuorestsiruiushchikh antitel v diagnostike infitsirovaniia virusom gepatita B bol'nykh glomerulonefritom.

In 107 patients with glomerulonephritis (GN) (28 were with acute and 79 with chronic GN) and 54 patients afflicted with other diseases of the kidneys, peripheral blood leukocytes were examined for HBsAg by indirect immunofluorescence. In 60 patients with GN and 32 patients with other diseases, blood sera were examined for HBsAg and anti-HBs by enzyme immunoassay along with examination of blood leukocytes for HBsAg. In blood leukocytes of GN patients, HBsAg was detected in 23.4% of cases, whereas in patients afflicted with other diseases of the kidneys, in 5.6% of cases. In the blood serum, HBsAg was also demonstrated more frequently in GN patients (in 15% of cases) as compared to patients with other diseases of the kidneys (in 3.1% of cases). The rate of anti-HBs demonstration did not significantly differ in patients with GN and in those suffering from other diseases of the kidneys. None of the examined patients both with GN and other diseases of the kidneys showed at a time HBsAg and anti-HBs in the serum or HBsAg in leukocytes and anti-HBs in the blood serum. HBsAg in leukocytes and in the blood serum was identified at a time only in one patient afflicted with chronic GN.

Detection of measles virus genome in blood leucocytes of patients with certain autoimmune diseases.

RNA isolated from lymphocytes of peripheral blood was dot-hybridized to a hybrid plasmid containing specific sequences for measles virus nucleocapsid protein. Viral RNA was detected in the lymphocytes of 28 of 34 (82%) patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and of 40 of 68 (59%) patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN), and was not detected in 29 control patients.

[Hepatitis B virus infection and glomerulonephritis]. / Infitsirovanie virusom hepatita B i glomerulonefrit.

HBsAg was detected in the blood serum of patients with glomerulonephritis (GN) in 21.1% of cases. During examination of patients with other diseases of the kidneys HBsAg was detected in the blood serum much less frequently (8.3%). In patients with systemic autoimmune diseases it was found in 12.1%, in patients with pyelonephritis and amyloidosis in 7.4%. Anti-HBs and HBsAg in GN patients were defined with equal frequency (20.3%). Among patients with other renal diseases anti-HBs were found more frequently in systemic autoimmune diseases (36.7%). The presence of the other hepatitis B virus marker (HBeAg) was noted in 3 out of 15 patients with chronic GN with HBSAg in the blood serum and was undetectable in either of 3 patients with HBsAg in the group with some other renal diseases. Anti-HBe were detected in 6 patients with chronic GN. Of 16 GN patients HBsAg was detected in a kidney biopsy specimen of one patient.

Antiviral immunity in chronic glomerulonephritis.

Antiviral activity was evaluated in sera from 65 patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (GN), 58 patients with SLE and 59 healthy controls. Antibodies to influenza A2 and B, and parainfluenza I-II-III viruses occurred much more frequently in GN than in healthy controls. Geometric mean antibody titers to measles, influenza A2 and B, and parainfluenza I-II-III were found to be elevated. The frequency of antiviral antibodies and their level in GN patients were similar to those in SLE patients. Detection of increased antiviral activity in sera of patients with chronic GN extends the range of diseases where persistent latent viral infection may be relevant.