Circulating immune complexes in hyperglobulinaemic subjects.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Duursma.
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Circulating immune complexes were measured by means of a modified Raji cell assay in 50 blood donors from each of three race groups - Indian, Black and White. The results ranged widely and were, on average, higher in Blacks than in others. The difference is probably related to the hypergammaglobulinaemia commonly found in Blacks. For maximum clinical usefulness, results should be expressed so as to indicate the degree of variation from the appropriate normal mean.
In 12 years 627 patients presented to Wentworth Hospital, Natal with chronic destructive pneumonia (CDP). Common symptoms were haemoptysis, the production of foul-smelling sputum, and chest pain. The disease pursued a chronic course with acute exacerbations which may be lethal. The majority of patients were African men aged between 20 and 50 years who were free from other significant disease apart from dental infection. Radiographically and pathologically CDP had the characteristics of a necrotising pneumonia, and microbiological investigation showed mixed aerobic and anaerobic flora in the lower respiratory tract. Gram-positive aerobic cocci and Bacteroides species were the predominant organisms. In 120 patients treatment regimens were based on chloramphenicol, in 429 cephalosporins, and in 78 on combination therapy with cephalosporins, penicillin, and metronidazole. One hundred and seventy patients also required operative management in an attempt to control progress of the disease. The overall inpatient mortality rate from CDP was 7.8%. In the group of patients treated with combination therapy the mortality rate was 1.3%.
The nutritional status of 15 Negro patients suffering from unresectable carcinoma of the midthoracic oesophagus was evaluated before and after palliative pulsion intubation. All were shown to be in negative nitrogen balance and to have a compromised non-specific cellular immune response. Correction of protein-calorie malnutrition and the achievement of positive nitrogen balance were associated with an increase in absolute lymphocyte and T lymphocyte numbers and a significant increase in lymphocyte response to PHA. The improvement in immunological reactivity occurred without any attempt at therapeutic reduction in tumour bulk.
When T and B cell counts, using sheep cell rosettes and surface immunoglobulin as markers, are done on the lymphocytes of individuals who are receiving tetracycline, unusually high numbers of 'double marker' cells are regularly found.
Seven infants and children with renal tumors underwent nephrectomy and the tumors were cultured to investigate the behavior of their cells. In four children over 1 year of age with histologically typical nephroblastoma in the tumor cells were bizarre and disorderly. In one patient 3 months of age where the histology suggested malignancy the tumor culture showed an orderly growth pattern of spindle cells akin to normal kidney and the patient has had no recurrence for 18 months. In one infant seven months of age the histology was consistent with malignancy and this was confirmed on culture showing bizarre cells similar to those of nephroblastoma. The third infant under 1 year of age had a teratoma on histology and an unusual growth pattern on culture characterised by polyhedral cells with long processes and much overlapping. It is suggested that in infants with kidney tumors, tissue culture be used to help in assessing the malignant potential of the tumor and deciding on adjuvant therapy.
Autoimmune thyroiditis was induced in two vervet monkeys by immunizing them with human thyroid extract. As expected, both animals developed cytotoxic antibodies which were active against human thyroid and other human cells in tissue culture. In addition, a second serum factor was detected. This was capable of sensitizing human thyroid (and other) cells and rendering them susceptible to killing by normal lymphocytes. This finding implicates antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity in the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroiditis.
AIMS: This study was conducted prospectively to ascertain the prevalence of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACAs) in patients with lupus nephritis and to determine whether this subgroup of patients differed clinically and histologically from patients without the antibody. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 40 SLE patients (26 Blacks, 14 Indians, 37 females, 3 males) with evidence of renal involvement underwent clinical assessment and percutaneous renal biopsy. Special investigations included: urinary protein quantitation; radioisotope glomerular filtration rate (GFR); complement levels, and antinuclear antibodies and ACAs. Histology was reviewed by a single senior pathologist blinded to the ACA results. In addition to the standard WHO classification, specimens were examined for intrarenal thrombosis. RESULTS: The prevalence of ACA was 45% (18 of 40 patients). Thrombocytopenia was more frequent in patients with ACA (33 vs. 13.6%, p = 0.015). Patients with ACA did not differ from controls with regard to the incidence of thrombosis, neurological disorders, recurrent fetal loss, active disease and hypertension. Mean GFR and 24-hour urine protein (ACA vs. controls) were 51.3 versus 67 ml/min (NS) and 2.4 versus 3.7 g (NS), respectively. Intrarenal microvascular thrombosis (glomerular and arteriolar) occurred in 27.7% of ACA patients versus 9% of controls (p = 0.025). Apart from a higher incidence of class-III nephritis in the controls, standard histology (WHO classification) did not differ between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ACA in our patients with lupus nephritis was 45%. This subgroup did not differ from patients without the antibody apart from a higher incidence of thrombocytopenia and intrarenal microvascular thrombosis.