Open AccessImmune adherence and clearance of hepatitis B surface Ag/Ab complexes is abnormal in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
Author(s) -
MADI N.,
STEIGER G.,
ESTREICHER J.,
SCHIFFERLI J. A.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
clinical & experimental immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1365-2249
pISSN - 0009-9104
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1991.tb05734.x
Subject(s) - immune system , immune adherence , immune complex , immunology , medicine , complement system , systemic lupus erythematosus , lupus erythematosus , complement receptor 1 , hepatitis , immune complex disease , classical complement pathway , antigen antibody complex , complement receptor , antibody , disease , glomerulonephritis , kidney , hemagglutination
SUMMARY Complement levels and complement receptor 1 (CR1) on erythrocytes (E) are reduced in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). To see whether these abnormalities are responsible for defective transport and elimination of immune complexes (IC) from the circulation, patients with active SLE (14) and normal volunteers (14) were injected with preformed IC (hepatitis B surface Ag/Ab). Two minutes after injection only 25±9 ± 19±1% (mean ± 1 s.d.) of the circulating IC were bound to Ein the SLE patients as compared to 63 ± 3±7% in the normal subjects ( P = 0±0001). For SLE patients, the reduced immune adherence was best explained by a combination of complement depletion and low CRI binding capacity (±= 0±80, P = 0±0001). The disappearance of IC as estimated from the area under the elimination curve was faster in SLE lhan in controls ( P = 0±02), and correlated with CRI (±= 0±54, P = 0±0001) and immune adherence observed in vivo (± = 0±33, P = 0±013). Finally, immune adherence was absent and IC disappeared very rapidly in a patient with C2 deficiency and an SLE‐like disease. These observations suggest that in SLE the defective immune adherence reaction might be responsible for the accelerated disappearance of IC from the circulation.