The humoral immunity against diphtheria

Results of the conducted study showed that naturally acquired antibacterial and postvaccinal antitoxic antibodies against diphtheria were found in human blood sera. Challenge of ADT-M toxoid to adults resulted in production of antitoxic as well as antibacterial antibodies in high concentrations. In response to challenge of ADT-M toxoid simultaneously with bacterial vaccine against diphtheria Codivac both antibacterial and antitoxic antibodies were synthesized in blood on optimal physiologic levels. This study revealed dynamics of some specific characteristics of humoral immune response after challenge of two different vaccines against diphtheria--ADT-M toxoid and Codivac vaccine.     

Cell-mediated and humoral immunity in HBS-Ag carriers]

The presence of HBs--Ag in the blood was established in 1.8% of practically healthy persons, in 29.7% of virus hepatitis patients and in 86.0% of serum hepatitis patients. The immunological study of clinically healthy HBs--Ag carriers revealed a statistically significant decrease in the number of T and B lymphocytes and an increased level of serum IgA, IgM and IgG in the blood. Among donors, 7.6% were found to have lymphocytes sensitized to HBs--Ag and 15.4% were found to have lymphocytes sensitized to liver antigen, while for HBs--Ag carriers these data were 62.5% and 50%, respectively.     

Depressed humoral immunity after weight reduction in competitive judoists

We studied changes in serum opsonic activity (SOA) in male judoists who were engaged in active weight reduction. Serum immunoglobulins, complements and SOA, measured by neutrophil‐associated chemiluminescence responses, were investigated 20 days, 7 days and 1 day before a competition and 5 days after the competition. In addition, muscle strength and anaerobic work capacity, as well as body composition, were also determined. A dietary survey was conducted daily during the observation period. Body weight decreased by 4.2 kg over 19 days. SOA significantly decreased 5 days after the competition, as well as the concentrations of serum immunoglobulins, complements and total proteins. These trends were noted in the marked weight reduction group (i.e. reduction weight of body fat/body fat weight before weight reduction ≧25%) more than the slight reduction group (<25%). Depressed SOA was closely correlated with the decreased concentrations of immunoglobulins and complements. These results suggest that the decrease in immunoglobulins and complements following weight reduction is associated with reduced SOA, which might cause susceptibility to infections. This study demonstrated that such immunosuppression appeared in the recovery period after the competition rather than immediately before the competition. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A graph model for the evolution of specificity in humoral immunity

The immune system protects the body against health-threatening entities, known as antigens, through very complex interactions involving the antigens and the system's own entities. One remarkable feature resulting from such interactions is the immune system's ability to improve its capability to fight antigens commonly found in the individual's environment. This adaptation process is called the evolution of specificity. In this paper, we introduce a new mathematical model for the evolution of specificity in humoral immunity, based on Jerne's functional, or idiotypic, network. The evolution of specificity is modeled as the dynamic updating of connection weights in a dynamic graph whose nodes are related to the network's idiotypes. At the core of this weight-updating mechanism are the increase in specificity caused by clonal selection and the decrease in specificity due to the insertion of uncorrelated idiotypes by the bone marrow. As we demonstrate through numerous computer experiments, for appropriate choices of parameters the new model correctly reproduces, in qualitative terms, several immune functions.     

Anti-malarial humoral immunity: the long and short of it

Humoral immunity is critical for limiting Plasmodium parasite infections and the severity of malaria. Naturally acquired immunity against malaria occurs inefficiently and protection is relatively short-lived. Here we review recent advances and explore emerging hypotheses regarding the molecular and cellular pathways that regulate Plasmodium parasite-specific B cell responses and durable anti-malarial humoral immunity.     

Indicators of humoral immunity in smokers and nonsmokers working underground

A group of 215 underground shale miners (148 smokers and 67 nonsmokers) was examined for levels of immunoglobulins in sera (IgG, IgA, IgM) and saliva (sIgA), transferrin (TRF), alpha 2-macroglobulin (A 2M) and lysozyme levels in sera (LYS) and saliva (sLYS). The control group consisting of 95 healthy men was selected to match the age of the exposed miners. The mine environment was characterized by the presence of ionizing radiation, due to a geological configuration of the rock. The study revealed that the decline of IgG, IgA and sLYS levels in smokers was significantly deeper than in nonsmokers and controls. The levels of sIgA and serum LYS levels were increased both in smokers and nonsmokers. The change in the serum LYS and A 2M levels in miners did not depend on the smoking habits, except of A 2M levels in miners employed for more than 21 years. The differences were, as a rule, less pronounced in younger miners and tended to increase with the increasing length of work underground. The distribution analysis revealed some inter-miner differences in the susceptibility to these changes and the formation of smaller subgroups of miners with more or less subnormal test values, which supports the hypothesis on the heterogeneity of this population group. The tests showed that the statistical analysis of abnormal test values might play an important role in the assessment of the health risk in individuals. A simultaneous detection of subnormal values in some of pairs of tests may provide decisive data allowing a reliable differentiation between the afflicted miners and the healthy control subjects.     

Indicators of cellular and humoral immunity in chronic opisthorchiasis]

Quantitative content of T- and B-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood was studied after Mendes in 30 patients suffering from chronic opisthorcosis and in 30 practically healthy persons; immunoglobulins--M, G, and A were examined after Mancini, and the presence of autoantibodies in the blood serum was studied by indirect method of mast cells degranulation. There was revealed a reduction of the T-cell count to 28.8 +/- 2.28% (normal value--52.9 +/- 3.32%) and a fall of IgM level to 163.4 +/- 16.2 (207.2 +/- 10.5 in donors) in the patients; macrophages count was almost doubled. Autoantibodies to the antigens of the liver, gastric mucosa and the gall bladder wall were revealed in 1/3 of the patients.     

Studies on humoral immunity against Taenia taeniaeformis infection in rats

Rats were infected with doses of 100, 1000, 5000 and 10 000 eggs of Taenia taeniaeformis. Haemagglutinating antibody to cysticerus antigen was detected at the 4th week of infection. The appearance and levels of antibody titre did not vary greatly with the infective dose. An IgM peak appeared at the 6th week, with IgG appearing slightly later and continuing to rise. Transfer of serum from the 1st week onwards from infections with 1000 eggs however could confer significant protection. Dilutions of hyperimmune serum (1 ml volumes) of up to 1/32 conferred significant protection on normal recipients. Hyperimmune serum transferred up to 4 days before challenge could confer 80% protection whereas serum transferred 4 days after challenge was totally non-protective. The significance of this finding is discussed in the light of current knowledge of metacestode immunity.     

Cellular and humoral immunity factors in salmonellosis and food toxinfections

The present work deals with the state of cell-mediated and humoral immunity in 129 patients with salmonellosis and 185 patients with alimentary toxicoinfections, determined from the data obtained in the leukocyte migration inhibition (LMI) test and the passive hemagglutination (PHA) test with cysteine, at different stages of the disease and depending on the severity of the infectious process. The results of these investigations showed that in adult salmonellosis patients the specific reaction of T- and B-lymphocytes developed as secondary immune response. The results of the LMI test proved to be unrelated to the severity of the infectious process, while antibody formation was found to be most intensive in the acute course of the disease. The investigations also revealed that the activity of reaction in the LMI est did not depend on the presence of humoral antibodies. In the patients with alimentary toxicoinfections changes in the results of the LMI test and the PHA test with cysteine showed the same regularities as in the salmonellosis patients. This permitted the authors to suggest that diseases of Salmonella etiology prevailed in the former group.     

Specific features of humoral immunity in cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis patients

Cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis (CFA) is a severe autoimmune disease of unclear etiology and prognostically unfavorable. The complexity of the diagnostics of this disease makes it necessary to search for new methods; for this reason immunity in CFA patients must be studied. The study of humoral organ-specific, organ-unspecific and antibacterial immunity of CFA patients revealed that the latter differed from the members of the groups used for comparison by a higher frequency of positive reactions in EIA determinations of IgG antibodies to cytokeratin-8 and Moraxella catarrhalis antigens. In addition, only in CFA patients a high degree of correlation (r=0.88) between these results was established. This made it possible to propose to use these reactions for confirming the diagnosis of CFA and suggested the probable role of M. catarrhalis in triggering autoimmune reactions characteristic of this disease.