Inherited deficiency of ninth component of complement: an increased risk of meningococcal meningitis.
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Anti-acetylcholine-receptor antibody is demonstrable in more than 90 per cent of patients with myasthenia gravis. Serum antibody titers do not show a direct correlation with disease severity, although in certain patients antibody levels increase in association with disease activity. Impairment of neuromuscular transmission results from the loss of junctional receptors, either as a result of receptor internalization or destruction of junctional folds containing the acetylcholine receptor. Myasthenia gravis manifests immunologic, genetic, and clinical similarities to rheumatic syndromes, suggesting a generic immune dysfunction common to these disorders.
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In recent experiments, in which we compared hDAF transgenic rat hearts perfused with 15% human serum in the Langendorff device and hDAF rat hearts transplanted into cynomolgus monkeys, we demonstrated that in the ex vivo heart perfusion model both homozygous and heterozygous hDAF hearts survived longer as nontransgenic controls. Surprisingly, we found that only homozygous hDAF hearts were protected against hyperacute rejection in vivo. The first aim of this study was to determine whether perfusion of mouse hearts with higher human serum concentrations or human blood might explain some of the differences found in survival time of the recently performed experiments with rat heart xenografts. Secondly, we investigated whether the observed differences in survival times of rat xenografts between in vivo and ex vivo transplantation would also hold for mouse hearts transgenic for hDAF. An ex vivo model was used to perfuse hDAF mouse hearts and controls with human serum or blood, and hDAF transgenic hearts and controls were transplanted into cynomolgus monkeys. hDAF transgenic mouse hearts survived significantly longer than their controls when perfused with 15% human serum, but no difference was found when 30% human serum was used, or when these hearts were transplanted into cynomolgus monkeys. However, in both the in vivo and ex vivo models the amount of PMNs adhering to the vascular endothelium was significantly lower in hDAF transgenes as compared with their controls. In conclusion, in the ex vivo situation, the efficacy of hDAF transgenesis in preventing HAR is limited by serum complement concentration.
The formation of ultrastructural membrane lesions of varying size during cell mediated cytolysis effected by human peripheral blood leukocytes was recently reported by Dourmashkin et al. and Henkart et al. Using cloned mouse natural killer (NK) cells as effectors and YAC-1 cells or rabbit erythrocytes as targets, we now report two types of membrane lesions with inner diameters of 16 +/- 2 nm and approximately 5 nm, respectively. These lesions arise by membrane insertion of tubular complexes that may be assembled from subunits during the cytolytic reaction. The tubules are detected on target membranes by immune electron microscopy and appear to form transmembrane channels as seen in ultrathin sections. Both tubules are partially purified by membrane extraction with SDS and gel filtration in deoxycholate containing buffer. Based on the correlation of tubule assembly and cytolysis and on their detection on target membranes, we suggest that both types of tubules may be related to cytolysis.
A chemiluminescent derivative of cyclic AMP, aminobutylethylisoluminol succinyl cyclic AMP (ABEI-scAMP), was synthesized in order to develop a homogeneous immunoassay based on non-radiative energy transfer. ABEI-scAMP was chemiluminescent (5.1 X 10(18) luminescent counts X mol-1 at pH 13), pure (greater than 95%) stable and immunologically active. A conventional immunoassay was established using ABEI-scAMP and a solid-phase anti-(cyclic AMP) immunoglobulin G which could detect cyclic AMP at least down to 25fmol. A homogeneous immunoassay for cyclic AMP was established by measuring the shift in wavelength from 460 to 525nm which occurred when ABEI-scAMP was bound to fluorescein-labelled anti-(cyclic AMP) immunoglobulin G. The assay was at least as sensitive as the conventional radioimmunoassay using cyclic [3H]AMP and could measure cyclic AMP over the range 1-1000nM. The homogeneous chemiluminescent energy transfer assay was also able to quantify the association and dissociation of antibody-antigen complexes. Chemiluminescence energy transfer occurred between fluorescein-labelled antibodies and several other ABEI-labelled antigens (Mr values 314-150000) including progesterone, cyclic GMP, complement component C9 and immunoglobulin G. The results provide a homogeneous immunoassay capable of measuring free cyclic AMP under conditions likely to exist inside cells.
We report a case of human monensin intoxication; to our knowledge, this is the first reported case in the medical literature. The patient took a dose of monensin three times higher than a dose considered lethal for cattle and developed a clinical picture similar to that reported in veterinary medicine. There was an early and extremely severe rhabdomyolysis followed by acute renal failure, heart failure, and death. The main changes observed at autopsy were extensive skeletal muscle necrosis, complement deposition at the myocardial level, pulmonary edema, and acute tubular damage.
We studied two patients with a low-titer cold-hemagglutinin disease syndrome to investigate the mechanism of hemolysis and the therapeutic response to corticosteroids. The antierythrocyte antibody was of the IgM class, had a high thermal amplitude and had enough activity of 37 degrees C to account for the hemolysis. The capacity of peripheral blood monocytes to increase the osmotic fragility of C3-coated erythrocytes suggests that macrophage interaction with C3-coated erythrocytes explains the observed in vivo spherocytosis. Both patients responded to high-dose corticosteroids. The data suggest that the steroid effect is probably due to alteration of macrophage complement-receptor function. These studies demonstrate the importance of antibody activity at body temperature in producing hemolysis, particularly in this variant of cold-hemagglutinin disease. The response to steroids suggests the efficacy of corticosteroid therapy in alleviating hemolysis due to macrophage recognition of erythrocytes coated with IgM and C3.
The cytolytic pore-forming protein (PFP, perforin) of lymphocyte granules has recently been isolated and characterized. The lytic activities expressed by both the isolated granules and the purified PFP require the presence of Ca2+. Here, we report on the extracellular release of PFP after stimulation of lymphocytes with the Ca2+ ionophore A23187, which degranulates the cells. The secreted protein associates with lipid to form structural and functional channels and supramolecular complexes that partially resist dissociation by sodium dodecyl sulfate and reducing agents. Immunoblots of the released material reveal positive identification with antibodies specific for mouse PFP and human complement component C9, indicating cross-reactivity between these two molecules. By using these specific antibodies as immunoadsorbents, the lymphocyte PFP has been affinity purified from the supernatant of stimulated cells. The extracellular release of PFP is associated with simultaneous formation of functional ion-nonselective channels with conductances of 550-600 pS in 0.15 M NaCl, as measured in planar model bilayers. In the absence of extracellular Ca2+, 15% of the maximal release activity is observed. Ca2+ appears to be required to elicit both secretion by lymphocytes and the assembly of the released PFP into tubular polymers. Similar secretion of PFP may occur during cell killing by lymphocytes, resulting in its assembly on target membranes to form tubular transmembrane lesions.
Cytoplasmic granules of cytolytic T lymphocytes contain at least six related serine esterases (granzymes) that are released together with perforin, a pore-forming protein related to complement component C9, during target-cell lysis. Polyclonal antibodies were used to isolate a large number of cDNA clones from an expression library derived from cytolytic-T-cell mRNA. Three distinct full-length cDNA clones coding for granzymes D, E, and F were identified by restriction site mapping and nucleotide sequencing. The three deduced amino acid sequences are highly similar to one another (between 72% and 90% amino acid identities) and to the sequences of granzymes B and C, cathepsin G, and rat mast-cell proteases I and II (between 43% and 57% amino acid identities). Cysteine residues capable of forming intramolecular disulfide bonds are conserved, as are the catalytic-site residues characteristic of serine proteases. Comparison of the cDNA-derived protein sequences with the amino termini of the isolated granzymes provides evidence that they are stored in a fully processed, activated form after removal of the signal peptide and two additional residues (propeptide) at the amino terminus. Immunoelectron microscopic studies demonstrated that granzymes D, E, and F are present in the same morphologically distinct cytoplasmic granules in which perforin has been found previously.
The high affinity of 45Ca binding to the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R) and the LDL-R-related protein (LRP) was utilized to study the subcellular distribution of these two proteins in rat liver. Like the LDL-R, LRP was manyfold enriched in rat liver endosomal membranes with a relative distribution in early and late endosomal compartments consistent with recycling between endosomes and the cell surface. The high concentration of LRP in hepatic endosomal membranes greatly facilitated demonstration of Ca-dependent binding of apolipoprotein E- and B-containing lipoproteins in ligand blots. LRP was severalfold more abundant than the LDL-R in hepatic parenchymal cells, showed extensive degradation in hepatic endosomes, and was found in high concentrations in the Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum. These data suggest a high rate of synthesis of LRP that appeared to be unaffected by treatment of rats with estradiol. The repeating cysteine-rich A-motif found in the ligand-binding domain of LRP appeared to be responsible for Ca binding by LRP, LDL-R, and complement factor C9 and accounted for immunological cross-reactivity among these proteins. Weaker ligand-blotting properties and an extraordinary susceptibility to proteolysis most likely contribute to the difficulty of detecting LRP in conventional assays for lipoprotein receptors. Our data suggest an extensive proteolytic processing of this protein and are consistent with a functional role of LRP in lipoprotein metabolism.
The membrane attack complex (MAC) of complement was extracted from the membranes of cells lysed by human complement and its properties were compared with those of the fluid phase complex SC5b-9. Upon sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunochemical analysis, the two isolated complexes had identical subunit compositions, except that the MAC lacked the S-protein. The sedimentation coefficient and molecular weight of the extracted and isolated MAC were, respectively, 33.5 S and 1.7 x 10(6) daltons, compared to 23 S and 1.0 x 10(6) dalton for SC5b-9. Because the molecular weight of the MAC is approximately two times greater than that of C5b-0 (800,000 daltons), the MAC is considered the dimer of C5b-9. Under specified conditions, the 33.5 S dimer could be converted to the 23 S monomer without dissociation of subunits. The MAC had the electron microscopic appearance and dimensions that are characteristic for the complement produced ultrastructural membrane lesions. SC5b-9 had a different ultrastructure that is dissimilar to the morphology of the lesions. The isolated MAC could be reincorporated into phospholipid bilayers and assumed on the surface of the resultant lipid vesicles the orientation and appearance of typical complement lesions.
BACKGROUND: Hyperacute rejection of discordant xenografts is dependent on activation of the complement system of the recipient. Transgenic expression of recipient complement regulatory factors in donor tissue has proved to be a promising approach to dealing with hyperacute rejection, although the relationship between the level of complement regulatory factor expression and the degree of protection is not well established. Here, we examine this relationship using CD59 transgenic mouse hearts in an ex vivo model of xenograft rejection. METHODS: The level of expression of CD59 in two lines of transgenic mice, in which CD59 is expressed under the control of either the murine H2Kb (MHC class I) promoter (line CA-17) or the endothelium-specific human intercellular adhesion molecule-2 promoter (line 237-7), was compared by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Hearts from both groups and wild-type controls were perfused ex vivo with human plasma, and mean heart work for each group was compared over a 60-min period. RESULTS: CD59 expression on cardiac endothelial cells isolated from homozygous CA-17 mice was 25- to 30-fold lower than that on cardiac endothelial cells from heterozygous 237-7 mice. CA-17 hearts perfused with 6% human plasma exhibited a reduction in deposition of the membrane attack complex, but not a prolongation of function, compared with nontransgenic mouse hearts. In contrast, 237-7 hearts showed significantly prolonged function during perfusion with 20% plasma. CONCLUSIONS: High-level endothelial-specific expression of CD59 was effective in prolonging the function of mouse hearts perfused with 20% human plasma, whereas low-level, broader expression did not provide protection from 6% plasma.
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Raised levels of circulating immune complexes were found in the plasma of 47% of patients with psoriasis and in 58% of those with psoriatic arthritis. The mean levels were significantly raised when compared with normals, but there was no difference between the 2 patient groups. The levels of acute phase proteins (C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, alpha-1-antitrypsin, and the 9th component of complement) were normal in those patients with psoriasis but were significantly raised in patients with psoriatic arthritis. Serum immunoglobulin G and A levels were equally raised in both patient groups, immunoglobulin M being normal. C-reactive protein and fibrinogen gave the best correlation with the clinical index of disease activity.