Autoantibodies in children with chronic inflammatory lung diseases

124 sera of children with chronic bronchitis, chronic pneumonia, bronchial asthma, exogenic allergic alveolitis, congenital developmental defects of the lungs and the syndrome of the situs inversus of organs were examined with a view to study the state of humoral immunity to tissues. The study was carried out by means of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with the use of collagen, elastin, DNA (native and denaturated), membrane antigens of the lung, the liver, the small intestine and the large intestine. Among all groups of patients autoimmune disturbances, manifested by a rise in the level of autoantibodies of different specificity, were registered. The degree of manifestation of autoimmune disturbances depended on the kind of pathology. After treatment a decrease in the level of autoantibodies was registered in the examinees.