The accuracy of commercial calibration sera and assayed control sera.

Commercial calibration sera and assayed control sera have been extensively studied in parallel runs. An attempt has been made to assess the accuracy of the stated values of these sera, using mehtods that in two major quality control schemes have been shown to be reliably accurate. The Technicon product has proven to be generally the most reliable of the calibration sera. Many discrepancies were found in the assayed control sera values, particularly for calcium, phosphate and bilirubin, and our results indicate that the products of some manufacturers need to be improved.     

Comparison of intermethod analytical variability of patient sera and commercial quality control sera.

The intermethod analytical variability of 59 commercially available control sera was compared with that of patient sera. For this purpose, patient and control sera were assayed with respect to ten constituents (albumin, alkaline phosphatase, alpha-amylase, cholesterol, glucose, iron, lactate dehydrogenase, creatinine, protein, and urea), each with two analytical methods. Only 6 of the 59 control materials showed an intermethod analytical variability comparable to that of the patient sera for all of the determinations. The use of patient sera for the calibration of routine analytical methods is recommended.     

Diagnostic meningococcal sera and their quality

The findings evidence that preparation of highly active specific meningococcal sera depends on the selection of production strains and reference cultures for the assessment of their conformity to technological requirements. Meningococcal cultures selection conditions may be unified if standard immune sera are developed, characterized by stable titres of antibodies to group capsule antigens. Employment of such sera will improve the quality of commercial agglutinating sera.     

Allergen-specific IgE and IgG4 antibody levels in sera and the capacity of these sera to sensitize basophil leucocytes in vitro

Leucocytes from normal non-allergic donors were passively sensitized with sixty-five atopic sera that contained IgE directed against house dust mite (HDM) or guinea-pig dander (GPD). In no serum was there any IgE with an abnormal basophil anaphylactic-sensitizing activity. In sera from patients hypersensitive to GPD, both GPD-specific IgE and IgG4 were measured. A significant correlation was found between the GPD-IgE RAST and the basophil-sensitizing capacity of GPD-positive sera, but no correlation was found between this sensitizing capacity and the GPD-IgG4 RAST. Leucocytes were passively sensitized with serum mixtures that contained the same amounts of total and HDM-specific IgE; these mixtures differed as to sensitizing activity. It is unclear whether this variation is due to differences in IgE or to influences of other factors in serum.     

Comparative concentrations of cefoxitin in human lungs and sera

Eleven patients about to undergo pulmonary surgery received a bolus injection of 1 g of cefoxitin. The concentrations of cefoxitin in the serum 1 and 2 h after dosage were 38.5 ± 1.89 and 23.7 ± 2.56 μg/ml; the lung concentrations at the respective times were 12.6 ± 0.7 and 10.06 ± 0.43 μg/ml.     

Antibodies to human albumin in cirrhotic sera

In a previous paper we described a monoclonal IgM protein with antibody-like activity towards aggregated and native albumin. The present study was initiated to determine whether sera, other than that from patients with macroglobulinemia, contained similar antibody-like activity. It was demonstrated that approximately 40% of the sera from patients with classical Laennec's cirrhosis contained antibodies which agglutinate sheep red blood cells coated with aggregated albumin. The hemagglutinating activity was present in the void volume on Sephadex G-200 chromatography and was shown to be an immunoglobulin by its removal on passage over an anti-L-chain immunoadsorbent column. The immunoglobulin was isolated from cirrhotic sera by chromatography on an albumin immunoadsorbent column. The acid eluate from the albumin affinity column contained only IgA. After labeling this IgA with (125)I and obtaining the Fabalpha fragment by proteolysis, it was shown that the labeled Fabalpha complexed noncovalently with aggregated albumin. Complex formation between albumin and the cirrhotic IgA and Fabalpha could also be demonstrated utilizing facilitation of hemagglutination of sheep red blood cells coated with aggregated albumin. Appropriate controls consisting of normal and myeloma IgA and myeloma Fabalpha fragments failed to show evidence of complex formation with albumin. We propose that the restriction of the antibody response to the IgA class may result from the formation of antibodies against albumin altered during metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract. A possible role for anti-albumin antibodies in normal albumin catabolism and in the pathogenesis of Laennec's cirhosis is discussed.     

Cross-reactive idiotypes in immunoglobulin A-deficient sera.

Mice of inbred strains immunized with simple antigens can produce antibodies that share similar V regions, which result in serologic similarities called cross-reactive idiotypes (CRI). In this study, we considered the possibility that IgA-deficient humans, who are continuously immunized via the intestinal tract by dietary protein, might also produce antibodies sharing CRI. For this, anti-casein antibodies were isolated from the blood of 16 adult IgA-deficient donors (4 Finns and 12 North Americans) and an autologous anti-anti-casein from the blood of one of the Finnish donors. In addition, a heterologous anti-anti-casein was raised to the casein-anti-casein immune complexes of this donor. Comparing the activities of the two anti-idiotypes, it was found that both bind anti-casein in the region of the antigen binding site, but that each binds additional determinants not located within this region, with the heterologous reagent having more affinity for these latter determinants than the autologous anti-idiotype. Using both reagents in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition assays, extensive cross-reactivities between anti-caseins were demonstrated. Using the autologous anti-idiotype, 5 of 16 anti-caseins were found to share CRI, and with the heterologous reagent 12 of 16 shared CRI. In both assays, the anti-caseins of Finnish donors displayed more cross-reactivity than those derived from Northern American donors. These studies show that specific, commonly shared CRI can be identified in this human system in which antibodies are raised as a result of natural immunization across the gastrointestinal mucosa.     

Quantitative studies o the activities of anti-human tonsil sera and anti-human spleen sera against B lymphocyte.

Anti-human B lymphocyte serum (AHBS) was obtained by absorbing rabbit anti-human tonsil serum (ATOS) or rabbit anti-human spleen serum (ASPS) with human red cells, liver, neutrophils, thymocytes and glutaraldehyde insolubilized human serum. Specificities of AHBS were checked by the cytotoxicity test, inhibition test of EAC-rosetting and inhibition of PWM responses. Raji cells of Burkitt's lymphoma originating from B-cells and acknowledged as non-immunoglobulin bearing on the cell surface were stained with AHBS according to the immunofluorescent technique. ATOS showed a higher cytotoxic titer against peripheral B-cells and inhibited EAC-rosetting stronger than ASPS did. On the other hand, macrophages in peripheral blood, Kupffer cells in the liver and certain cells of the thymus-medulla were stained with ASPA, but not with ATOS, even after intensively absorbing ASPS with thymocytes.     

Presence of Forssman-like and Hanganutziu Deicher-like antibodies in Japanese sera

Absorption studies were performed to analyse the properties of heterophile antibodies in Japanese sera. The conventional absorption test using ox erythrocytes and guinea pig kidney tissues classified 28 of 3570 pathologic sera and 12 of 19 IM-like syndrome sera into 2 categories of Forssman type and Hanganutziu Deicher type. No sera contained the antibody of Paul-Bunnell type. Absorptions of the representative sera with cells of various species disclosed the presence of Hanganutziu Deicher-like and Forssman-like antibodies in Japanese IM-like syndrome sera. The activity of both antibodies were removed partly or non-significantly with rat cells. The antibody properties in serum sickness serum between Japanese and a Caucasian were compared. Cells of ox, rabbit, guinea peg and mouse removed the antibody in Japanese sera, however, rabbit cells did not absorb it in a Caucasian case. It could be proposed that various cells other than ox and guinea pig should be employed in the absorption study of the heterophile antibodies.