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Immune state was evaluated in 69 schoolchildren. In cases with dental caries, local immunity changes were evident with changes in immune globulins content. This is the first report on the presence of antigen to caries-afflicted dentin in the mixed saliva as detected by the complement binding technique. The course features of the disease were related to the salivary antibodies titer.
Findings of original research on the factors of nonspecific resistance (interferon formation, antibacterial activity of peritoneal exudate cells, and natural cytotoxicity of splenocytes) and immunity (changes in sub-populational composition of spleen lymphocytes) in different types of influenza in mice are analysed. There was no infection-mediated suppression of the studied reactions, that could have been considered as a cause of death or a basis for immunodeficiency status. The correlation of the level of cerebral lipid peroxidation in mice with severe infection formed the basis for testing the synthetic antioxidant ionol as an anti-influenza agent. A prophylactic effect of ionol toward the development of influenza infection has been obtained. Its possible actions and the feasibility of search for prophylactic and therapeutic preparations among the agents with pathogenetic action is discussed.
Psychoneuroimmunology, an interdisciplinary field of research, is concerned with the interactions between the central nervous system, the endocrine system and the immune system. In this survey the importance of psychosocial factors is illustrated by means of a number of studies reviewed from the literature: 1. Psychosocial factors related to illness (except aids): In animal experiments it could be shown that the effects of aversive stimulation on tumor growth were dependent on the type and manner of application of the stressors. The influence of personality factors and psychological states on the course and possibly also on the susceptibility to illness was frequently confirmed with regard to upper respiratory infections, coronary artery disease, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. 2. Psychosocial factors related to changes in immunity: Changes in immunity could be demonstrated relating to bereavement of close relatives as well as in mental illness. In spite of immunologic abnormalities found in the various diseases the importance of the aforementioned immunosuppression on possible subsequent onset of illness is not yet clarified. The fact that we can experimentally strengthen or weaken the immune system by means of psychological methods offers a further possibility to influence the course and prognosis of various diseases by means of psychologically induced changes in immunity.
Clinical and immunological parameters of 77 children with tonsillogenic lesions of the heart were investigated. Taking into consideration the pathogenetic mechanisms of cardiovascular pathologies in children with chronic tonsillitis and their immunity changes, a method of autotransfusion of UV irradiated blood was developed and used for their therapy. Before and after tonsillectomy the patients underwent this autotransfusion in order to accelerate their rehabilitation. It was demonstrated that in patients whose treatment involved autotransfusion, cardiac symptoms disappeared and immunological parameters stabilized faster than in the children given routine treatment.
The immune suppression that frequently accompanies severe injury undoubtedly contributes to subsequent infectious complications. Various lymphocyte subpopulations may be identified by surface antigen expression, and alterations in antigen expression by lymphocytes may reflect host immune competence. Using monoclonal antibodies (Moabs) and dual-color flow cytometry, we studied lymphocyte phenotypic expression in mice after either controlled burn injury or hind-limb amputation, with use of peripheral blood, lymph node, and spleen for cell preparation. Moabs were utilized specific for T cells (Lyt-1), helper/inducer cells (L3T4), suppressor/cytotoxic cells (Lyt-2), B cells (IgG), and activated T cells (Ia or IL-2 receptor). The assay techniques called for small amounts of tissue and avoided gradient procedures that might result in selective loss of some lymphocyte populations. The most consistent changes observed were depressions in percentages of L3T4+ and Lyt-2+ cells in spleens of burned mice, accompanied by depression in Ia+ (possibly activated or proliferating) subsets of L3T4+ and Lyt-2+ cells, and the appearance of increased percentages of non-B, non-T lymphocytes. Changes in lymph node cells were minimal. The major alteration seen in peripheral blood was substantial depression of Ia+ subsets, although burned mice had increased circulating Lyt-2+ cells on several late postburn days. Burned mice, unlike limb-trauma mice, had marked splenic hypertrophy with more than a 300% increase in spleen weight after the 30-day postburn period. Eschar excision/implantation experiments indicated that splenic hypertrophy and splenocyte phenotypic changes are related to the presence of burned tissue, which suggests that burned tissue may partially mediate immune changes that accompany severe burn injury.
The prognostic value of ocular manifestations and its correlation with immune changes in HIV-infected subjects was studied longitudinally with an average follow-up of one year (3-22 months). The most common ocular manifestations were retinal cotton-wool-like spots, observed in 58.8% of AIDS patients and in 76.9% of those with ocular involvement. Two of three ARC cases with cotton-wool-like spots developed Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia a few weeks after ophthalmoscopic examination. A close correlation between ocular changes and decrease of CD4+ lymphocytes was observed. In our opinion, these ocular manifestations are as useful as opportunistic infections or AIDS-related neoplasias in the natural history of HIV infection.
The level and intensity of antitoxic immunity to diphtheria and tetanus in children and adolescents were determined. The presence of tetanus antitoxin in titers exceeding the protective level in 96.3-98.5% of the examined children and adolescents is indicative of a high actual coverage by immunization. Protective titers against diphtheria were lower. There was no essential difference in the levels of protection in children immunized according to the vaccination schedule and in those immunized with some deviations from this schedule. A considerable part of newborns and children aged 3 months had antibodies to diphtheria and tetanus antitoxins. After the third booster immunization changes in antidiphtheria immunity characteristics occurred only in 2.5% of the vaccines and no changes in antitetanus immunity characteristics were observed.
The clinical and immunologic abnormalities of 7 infants with Lymphadenopathy Associated Virus (LAV) infection are reported. Indicative immune changes, positive anti-LAV serologic test and/or virus isolation led to the diagnosis. In a case with a particularly severe form of the disease, whose mother died from AIDS, serologic tests and virus isolation were negative. Beside a case associated with blood transfusion, the familial and ethnic context helped the diagnosis. Clinical and biochemical features were close to those in adult AIDS, including hepatosplenomegaly, polyadenopathy, a decreased absolute number of OKT4(+) lymphocytes and hypergammaglobulinemia. The importance of cellular and sometimes also humoral immune deficiency was highly variable. For 4 patients, the severity of the immune deficiency allowed the diagnosis of AIDS. Occurrence of such an infection in the first months of life suggests a fetomaternal viral transmission; however, a postnatal contamination cannot be ruled out. Long-term prognosis is difficult to assess. It depends, among other factors, on the importance of the immune deficiency.
The authors analyze the results of studies on the effect produced by the immunization of calves with paratyphoid vaccine on the production of agglutinins, changes in the blood serum immunoglobulin levels, and the specificity of IgM to Salmonella dublin and Salmonella typhimurium antigens. The highest level of agglutinins to paratyphoid antigens in the blood sera of the immunized calves was registered on days 14-21 after immunization, changes in the levels of different immunoglobulin classes being insignificant. The agglutination test and the enzyme immunoassay have revealed that antibodies to S. dublin anb S. typhimurium antigens belong to IgM.
Patients with cancer often have disturbances of cellular immunity. Changes of cellular immunity are frequently associated with tumor progression or an increased risk of a relapse. Cellular immunity is studied with an in vivo test system using 7 different recall antigens. We studied the cutaneous reaction of 80 children with various malignant diseases at time of diagnosis, at the end of the chemotherapy or prior to a relapse of the disease using the multitest Merieux. Before starting treatment patients with systemic diseases showed only a little response to the recall antigens. Patients with solid tumors had normal responses. No prognostic meaning of the multitest results were seen, if it was done before starting the treatment. At time of a relapse, these patients mostly had negative skin reactions using the multitest. It has to be studied if these results show a new systemic disease or if they are expression of an ongoing disturbance of cellular immunity of these patients.
The prognostic value of ocular manifestations and their correlation with immune changes in HIV-infected subjects (75 PGL, 23 ARC, and 17 AIDS) have been longitudinally studied with an average follow-up of one year (3 to 22 months). The most common ocular manifestations were retinal cotton-wool-like spots, observed in 58.8% of AIDS patients and in 76.9% of those with ocular involvement. Two of three ARC patients who showed cotton-wool-like spots developed PCP a few weeks after ophthalmoscopic examination. A close correlation between ocular changes and decrease of CD4+ lymphocytes was observed. In our opinion, these ocular manifestations are as useful an indicator as opportunistic infections or AIDS-related neoplasias in the prognosis of HIV infection.
The humoral immune changes (of Ig, CIC, C3) and the cellular ones (T lymphocytes with the T1, T2, Ta subpopulations and B lymphocytes) have been followed up for a mean period of 36 months in 22 patients with chronic active liver disease (CALD), of whom 11 with chronic active hepatitis and 11 with active liver cirrhosis. Thirteen of these patients received long term corticotherapy and 9 only a hepatotropic treatment. A comparison of the mean values of the immune parameters investigated in the active and in the remission stages has revealed an improvement of the immune disorders in the remission stages, both at humoral and cellular levels, more evident in the patients treated by corticotherapy.
The effect of pregnancy, birth and abortion on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) was studied in 225 patients with or without a history of pregnancy and abortion. It was observed that pregnancy, birth and abortion aggravate the evolution of disease in patients with active SLE. The tissue autoantibodies studies presented a low titer in patients in whom pregnancy had occurred in the course of disease. Antimeasles antibodies presented a high titer in patients with a history of gestation. These data suggest that gestation induces immune changes which aggravate SLE.
Although osteoarthritis (OA) generally is considered a disorder of mechanical origin, the common occurrence of chronic mononuclear cell infiltrates in the synovium in conjunction with immunofluorescent evidence for immune-reactant products in cartilage of surgical case specimens (knees, hips, and peripheral joints) has suggested the local involvement of immune processes in the arthritis. Further, the findings of polyarthropathy in the majority of these cases have indicated the propensity for a systemic disorder. Wide variations were noted in both synovial and cartilage immune changes, quite different to those found in rheumatoid arthritis, along with the frequent asymptomatology of the many joints involved. These features, with and without other causative factors, suggest that immune reactions of local and/or systemic origin occur at times in a population at risk for joint degradation.
Plasmodium berghei parasites (strain K173) in mice with developing immunity changed to a variant type with increased resistance against antibodies and enhanced invasion of mature erythrocytes; on passages in normal mice this variant type retransformed to the normal type (Kretschmar 1964). On detailed study, parasites of the variant type showed a markedly decreased predilection for polychromatophilic erythrocytes, leading to slowed multiplication during prepatency, increased invasion of mature erythrocytes and rapidly fatal course of the infection. Avoidance of parasitized immature erythrocytes remained unaltered in the variant type. In presence of antibodies many parasites invaded mature erythrocytes even in blood with high concentrations of immature erythrocytes. --Plasmodium yoelii (strain 17X) showed very high predilection for polychromatophilic erythrocytes, only slight lowering of immature erythrocyte concentration and low parasitization of mature erythrocytes. Parasites with altered preference for polychromatophilic erythrocytes were not observed in animals with parasitemia relapsing after spontaneous disappearance of the primary parasitemia or after injection of antiserum. It is suggested that in a variant of Plasmodium yoelii with high invasion of mature erythrocytes (Yoeli et al. 1975), the decisive virulence factor might be a lowered predilection for polychromatophilic erythrocytes. Avoidance of parasitized immature erythrocytes is less marked in Plasmodium yoelii than in Plasmodium berghei. In presence of antibodies more parasites invade mature erythrocytes. --Plasmodium chabaudi showed an appreciable preference for invasion of immature erythrocytes. Moreover, significantly more multiply parasitized mature and immature erythrocytes were found than would have been produced by random invasion of erythrocytes.
The features of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma occurring in pregnancy were studied in three cases and reviewed in the 21 additional cases reported in the medical literature of the past 50 years. The inception and course of neoplasia in general appears to be affected by the hormonal and immune changes of pregnancy. Lymphomas occurring during this period are of high-grade malignancy and have a tendency to involve the organs most stimulated in pregnancy; breast, ovary, and uterus. The cell types are indicative of early stages of differentiation, and mediastinal location is more common. Despite the usually late diagnosis and the aggressive disease, the pregnancy can continue to term ending in the natural delivery of unaffected babies who remain healthy thereafter. The course of lymphoma, however, almost invariably accelerates post partum, particularly during lactation, resulting in the rapid deterioration and death of the mother. Results better than expected have been recently obtained with combination chemotherapy.
With aging, many aspects of immune function change. Despite the greater complexity of problems and increased numbers of variables that attend research involving aged individuals, certain fundamental alterations in immune reactivity appear associated with aging. These alterations have important biologic implications. The immune changes in "healthy" octogenarians can have significant clinical effects when these individuals suffer stress or disease.
The authors carried out a complex study of natural humoral immunity factors in rabbits experimentally infected with various doses of diphtheria bacillus (500, 200, 100, 50 and 1 million, 10 000 and 1000 microorganisms). Natural protection factors--the complement, properdin, and lysozyme proved to undergo similar dynamic changes with each infection dose. The extent and direction of the changes depended on the infection dose. No significant natural immunity changes were caused by a low dose. A dose of 10 000 microbes caused stimulation of properdin and lysozyme activity. Dose of 1, 5, and 50 million suppressed the activity of all the components, the most pronounced with the later dose. Changes occurring with the doses of 200 and 100 million microbes were phasic in character.