Scand J Immunol

Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity to gliadin-coated cells with sera from children with coeliac disease.

Saalman R. Wold AE. Dahlgren UI. Fallstrom SP. Hanson LA. Ahlstedt S.
Department Clinical Immunology, University of Goteborg, Sweden.
Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) has been suggested as a contributing immunological mechanism in the disease process of coeliac disease. In the present study, sera from coeliac children were examined for their capacity to mediate ADCC against gliadin-coated target cells. The ADCC-mediating efficacy of sera were tested using monocytes from healthy adults as effector cells and gliadin-coated erythrocytes from the same donor as targets. Using monocytes as effector cells, sera from children with active coeliac disease (untreated or challenged), demonstrated significantly higher ADCC-mediating capacity than sera from healthy and disease references as well as children with treated coeliac disease. A positive correlation was found between the ADCC-mediating capacity and serum IgG as well as IgA anti-gliadin antibody levels. The results suggest that an antibody-dependent monocyte/macrophage-induced cytotoxic reaction might be involved in the disease process of coeliac disease.

A novel antibody directed against a three-dimensional configuration of a 95-kDa protein in patients with autoimmune hepatic diseases.

Miyachi K. Matsushima H. Hankins RW. Hirakata M. Mimori T. Hosaka H. Amagasaki Y. Miyakawa H. Kako M. Shibata M. Onozuka Y. Ueno U.
Health Sciences Research Institute, Third Diagnostic Division, Yokohama, Japan.
Sera from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis recognize various cellular components, such as mitochondria, centromere, nuclear envelope, and multiple nuclear dot antigens. There also appears to be a novel antibody reacting with a particular protein in these sera. The presence of this antibody was investigated by double immunodiffusion using rat liver cytoplasmic antigens, by immunoprecipitation of [35S]-methionine labelled HeLa cell extracts, and by immunoblot using disrupted HeLa cell extracts. Test sera were obtained from 491 patients with various liver diseases. Nine of the 491 sera were found to react with a 95-kDa protein as determined by immunoprecipitation of [35S]-methionine labelled HeLa cell extracts and by double immunodiffusion using a rat liver microsomal preparation. However, these same nine sera showed no reaction in the immunoblot assay. On the basis of its molecular mass and its presence in the cytoplasmic fraction, this antigen was named p95 C. This anti-p95 C antibody was detected in six of 50 (12%) sera from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, and in three of 31 (9.7%) sera from patients with autoimmune hepatitis, but not in any of the remaining 410 sera obtained from patients with other hepatic diseases. It is concluded that anti-p95 C antibody reacts primarily with the native form of the 95-kDa protein, and represents another possible analyte for diagnosing autoimmune liver diseases.

Phenotypical characterization of cells in the thoracic duct of patients with and without systemic inflammatory response syndrome and multiple organ failure.

Lemaire LC. van Deventer SJ. van Lanschot JJ. Meenan J. Gouma DJ.
Department of Surgery, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The subset composition and recirculation properties of the migrating lymphocyte pool in humans is largely unknown. The present study was conducted in order to phenotypically characterize cells in human thoracic duct lymph of patients under non-inflammatory and inflammatory conditions. These data were compared with data from peripheral blood, with special emphasis on those cells homing to the gut. Thoracic duct lymph and peripheral blood contained comparable proportions of B and T lymphocytes and CD8+ cells. Thoracic duct lymph contained proportionally more CD4+ cells, more CD4+CD45RO+ that express alpha 4 beta 7 cells and more CD8+CD45RO+ that express alpha 4 beta 7, as compared to peripheral blood. These data suggest an equal recirculation rate of B and T lymphocytes; a more active recirculation of CD4+ cells compared to CD8+ cells; and a more active recirculation of memory cells to the gut as compared to other extra-lymphoid sites in patients under non-inflammatory conditions. Data were also obtained in patients with the system inflammatory response syndrome and multiple organ failure. Although it is generally assumed that granulocytes and monocytes do not recirculate, lymph of multiple organ failure patients contained significantly more granulocytes than monocytes, indicating that in severe generalized inflammatory states these cells re-enter the circulation through the thoracic duct. Furthermore, no increased activation of cells homing to the gut was found in these patients.

Cervical secretions in pregnant women colonized rectally with group B streptococci have high levels of antibodies to serotype III polysaccharide capsular antigen and protein R.

Year 1998
Hordnes K. Tynning T. Kvam AI. Bevanger L. Brown TA. Jonsson R. Haneberg B.
Broegelmann Research Laboratory and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
Group B streptococci (GBS) colonizing the female genital tract will often infect newborn infants during delivery. In 200 pregnant women studied, 14% were colonized with GBS in the cervix, 12% in the rectum, and 9% in both cervix and rectum. We have previously reported that antibody levels to GBS serotypes Ia, II, and III in sera and cervical secretions were increased in women colonized in the rectum and/or cervix, when analyzed by a whole-cell ELISA. Here, we report the levels of antibodies to GBS serotype III capsular polysaccharide antigen (CPS III) and to protein antigen R4, which are present in most GBS III strains. Compared to culture-negative women, the group of women colonized rectally had markedly elevated levels of immunoglobulin (Ig)A and IgG antibodies in cervical secretions to both CPS III and protein R4 (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001, respectively). In sera, the corresponding differences between culture-negative and culture-positive women were less pronounced, or not present. In contrast to antibody levels to whole-cell GBS, antibody levels to CPS III and protein R4 in cervical secretions were not significantly increased in women colonized only in the cervix, except that IgA antibodies to protein R4 were slightly elevated (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that capsular type-specific polysaccharides and protein R4 in a mucosal vaccine might induce protective antibodies against GBS colonization of the uterine cervix.