[Inhibition of immune cytotoxic lymphocyte induction by antilymphocyte autoantibodies from the blood serum of patients with preleukemia and leukemia]. / Podavlenie induktsii immunnykh tsitotoksicheskikh limfotsitov antilimfotsitarnymi autoantitelami syvorotki krovi bol'nykh predleikozami i leikozami.

The influence of the presence of antilymphocyte IgG autoantibodies (ALA) from sera of haematologic patients and human retrovirus-infected ones was studied by determination of the cytotoxic lymphocyte (CTL) activity in mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC). Suppressive effects of ALA were shown at different levels. For initial 48 h of MLC in the presence of ALA the inhibition of antigen presentation by monocytes was identified and such ALA activity was adsorbed by stimulated lymphocytes. Moreover ALA induced production of soluble nondializable suppressive factors as well. The latest effects were linked to IL2-dependent lymphocyte proliferation as a result of the presence of anti-IL2R autoantibodies in the spectrum of ALA. No differences between effects of ALA from serum specimens of the used groups of patients and subjects have been detected.

Detection and analysis of antibodies against retrovirus determinants in the sera of haematologic patients.

A panel of 11 retroviruses including animal retroviruses types B, C, D and human retroviruses HTLV-I and HTLV-III was used as antigen for detection of antibodies in 265 sera of patients suffering from haematologic and autoimmune diseases and in 98 control sera. In contrast to the control sera, the 39 patients sera contained antibodies against internal proteins of animal retroviruses types B and C. No antibodies against human retroviruses proteins or type D retrovirus core proteins were detected. The antibodies from positive sera immunoprecipitated the RNA from polyribosomal fraction of R-MuLV infected spleen cells which also showed positive hybridization with a specific cDNA probe. The antibodies in patients' sera were directed mainly against RNA-binding proteins p15 of type C or p14 type B virus. The retrovirus antigenic determinants were expressed also in human embryo haemopoietic cells. The possible interpretation of antibody formation against the determinants of animal retroviruses in humans is discussed.

[Characteristics of lymphocyte autoantigens]. / Kharakteristika autoantigenov limfotsitov.

Specificity of autoantibodies against lymphocyte antigens was assayed in sera of patients with autoimmune hematologic diseases, leukemias, secondary immunodeficiencies as well as in sera of persons seropositive to antibodies against retroviruses HTLV-I and HTLV-III. Autoantigens of the lysates of stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes and Hut-102 cells were characterized with the aid of immune blotting and radioimmunoprecipitation. No differences were found in autoantigen spectra identified by sera from patients belonging to different groups. Autoantigens 75 cd, 60 cd, 50 cd and 12 cd occurring in both cell types were demonstrable at a greater frequency. Some of the sera also demonstrated the total antigens 34 cd and 29 cd. The role of autoantigens in the pathology development is discussed.

Heterogeneity of the ARV-2 strain and natural isolates of the human immunodeficiency virus.

To study heterogeneity of HIV isolates ARV-2 and strains isolated from lymphocytes of asymptomatic carriers were cloned using limiting dilutions of virus and infected CEM cells. All viral stocks turned out to be biologically heterogeneous giving clones with cytotoxic and noncytotoxic type of infection. Coinfection of CEM cells with cytotoxic and noncytotoxic variants resulted in interference of their biological effects. This interference ended with distinct cytotoxicity. No correlation between the production of virus and the amount of HIV DNA was found pointing out that nonfunctional DNA copies exist.

[Qualitative and quantitative analysis of autoantibodies to the membrane antigens of erythrokaryocytes]. / Kachestvennyi i kolichestvennyi analiz autoantitel k antigenam membrany éritrokariotsitov.

The study of the specificity, composition and concentration of autoantibodies (AB) active against erythrokaryocytes (EK) has been made by means of the enzyme immunoassay with sera obtained from patients. The specificity of AB embraces interspecific determinants of human, rabbit and mouse EK; determinants expressed on the EK of human and rabbit marrow; determinants expressed on human embryo EK. AB are mainly represented either by IgG or by IgM. Their quantitative evaluation permits the subdivision of sera into groups according to AB concentration. This phenomenon is due to the existence of the threshold value which, in most cases, sets the upper limit to the AB level detectable in the assay.

[Quantitative determination of the soluble O antigen of Salmonella serogroup B and of specific antibodies in different classes by using immunoenzyme analysis]. / Kolichestvennoe opredelenie rastvorimogo O-antigena sal'monell serogruppy B i spetsificheskikh antitel razlichnykh klassov s pomoshch'iu immunofermentnogo analiza.

The results of measurements of S. typhimurium O-antigen and specific IgA-, IgG- and IgM-antibodies in 115 serum samples from patients with salmonellosis induced by group B salmonellae are analyzed. As determined in this study, the concentrations of IgA-antibodies ranged 0-15 micrograms/ml, the minimal diagnostically significant value being 3.6 micrograms/ml; the concentrations of IgG-antibodies ranged 0-13 micrograms/ml, the minimal diagnostically significant value being 1.3 micrograms/ml; and the concentrations of IgM-antibodies ranged 0-50 microgram/ml, the minimal diagnostically significant value being 5.0 micrograms/ml. The minimal diagnostically significant concentration of O-antigen, determined in selected serum samples obtained from healthy donors, was 0.1 microgram/ml. There is a significant correlation between the concentrations of IgA-, IgG- and IgM-antibodies, but the concentrations of these antibodies do not correlate with the concentration of soluble O-antigen. The study showed that the simultaneous determination of S. typhimurium O-antigen and specific antibodies in the material under test significantly enhances the effectiveness of the serodiagnosis of the disease.

[Human acute lymphoblastic leukemia associated with HTLV-I virus and its infection in healthy populations from various regions of the USSR]. / Ostryi limfoblastnyi leikoz cheloveka, assotsiirovannyi s virusom HTLV-I, i infitsirovannost' im zdorovogo naseleniia nekotorykh regionov SSSR.

Patients with various forms of hemoblastoses (328) and clinically healthy persons (530) were examined for antibodies to HTLV-I. The presence of antibodies was detected in 3 out of 40 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and only in 1 of 70 patients with lymphosarcoma. These data indicate that sporadic cases of T-cell leukemia associated with HTLV-I were detected in the USSR. Out of 530 healthy persons only 4 contained antibodies to HTLV-I antigens.

[Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and generalized lymphadenopathy in persons seropositive for the HIV virus]. / Sindrom priobretennogo immunodefitsita i generalizovannaia limfoadenopatiia u lits, seropozitivnykh k virusu HIV.

Of 20 examined Africans who were seropositive to HIV in the Western Blot technique, the syndrome of acquired immunodeficiency was found in 2, generalized lymphoadenopathy in 17; in one patient infection was asymptomatic. A decrease in the T-helper/T-suppressor ratio was noted in all the examinees, in 88% of the patients the Ig level was elevated. Each case was described.

[Antilymphocytic humoral autoimmune response of mice with developing Rauscher leukemia directed against group-specific retrovirus antigens]. / Antilimfotsitarnye gumoral'nye autoimmunnye reaktsii myshei s razvivaiushchimsia leikozom Raushera, napravlennye protiv gruppospetsificheskikh antigenov retrovirusov.

The methods of indirect membrane immunofluorescence, immunoenzyme analysis, complement-dependent cytotoxicity and sorption tests were used to demonstrate two types of humoral antilymphocytic autoimmune reactions at the early stage of the Rauscher leukemia in mice of BALB/c, BDF1 and C57B1/6 strains. The first one is directed against group-specific oncoviral antigens (p30, p15) expressed on the lymphocyte membrane of both intact mice and of those with leukemia, the second one is virus-independent and possesses strain specificity.

[Analysis of specificity in the serodiagnosis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome]. / Analiz spetsifichnosti serodiagnostiki sindroma priobretennogo immunnogo defitsita.

Analysis of serum samples for the presence of antibody to AIDS-inducing virus was carried out with the use of the Virognostika diagnosticum manufactured by Organon (the Netherlands). As a result, 6.1% of sera from patients with hematologic diseases, 5.7% of sera from oncologic patients, and 9.2% of sera from hepatitis B patients proved to be "positive" according to the criteria of the manufacturer. However the positively reacting sera could be neutralized by sorption on human red cells, groups AB and 0 and by treatment with the lysate of human lymphocyte culture, which was indicative of the fact that false positive reactions were probably due to the contamination of the antigenic preparation by components of the producer-cell membrane.

[Characteristics of the functional antigens of Neisseria meningitidis group B]. / Kharakteristika funktsional'nykh antigenov Neisseria meningitidis gruppy B.

The work deals with the characterization of the functional antigens of N. meningitidis, group B. Analysis of the total extract of N. meningitidis strain B16B6 with the use of sera obtained from patients with meningococcal infection, nasopharyngitis, salmonellosis, as well as from meningococcus carriers and healthy donors, by immune blotting techniques and the affinity isolation of the functional antigens indicate that protein antigen with a molecular weight of 13-15 kd is the main common antigen inducing the formation of antibodies in patients with meningococcal infection.

[Detection and identification of anti-idiotypic antibodies in heterogeneous immunoenzyme analysis]. / Vyiavlenie i identifikatsiia antiidiotipicheskikh antitel v geterogennom immunofermentnom analize.

The antigen-antibody equilibrium in the presence of a competitive agent of immunoglobulin nature, represented by anti-idiotypic antibodies, has been analyzed in the case of the immobilized antigen. As shown in this investigation, the amount of immunoglobulin bound with the carrier is determined both by the competition of anti-idiotypic antibodies for the active center of idiotype-carrying antibodies and by the binding of anti-idiotypic antibodies with the antigen-antibody complex. If idiotype-carrying and anti-idiotypic antibodies are represented by serum immunoglobulin of the same species, the titration of the competitive agent leads to obtaining a characteristic relationship between the amount of immunoglobulin bound with the insoluble phase and the amount of the competitive agent in the system passing through the maximum. The theoretical results have been confirmed on the experimental model and used for the identification of auto-antiidiotypic antibodies in patients' sera.

[Comparison of the diagnostic value of methods for determining antibodies against the Salmonella group-B O-antigen]. / Sravnenie diagnosticheskoi znachimosti nekotorykh metodov opredeleniia antitel protiv O-antigena sal'monell gruppy B.

The analysis of serum samples from 124 patients with the bacteriologically confirmed diagnosis of group B salmonellosis has revealed that the specific neutralization variant of the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) makes it possible to detect IgA, IgG and IgM more effectively than the indirect EIA variant and the passive hemagglutination test.

[Autogenic anti-idiotypic suppression of autoimmune reactions--a new approach to immunotherapy of experimental leukemia]. / Autogennoe antiidiotipicheskoe podavlenie autoimmunnykh reaktsii--novyi podkhod k immunoterapii eksperimental'nykh leikozov.

Experimental Rauscher's virus erythroleukemia (RVE) was employed to study the immunologic mechanisms by which leukemia develops. Experiments were performed on inbred mice, genetically opposite to the disease induction, namely on highly sensitive BALB/c, resistant C57BL/6 and moderately sensitive BDFI animals. It is shown that RVE resistance is an immunologic phenomenon that results from the functioning of the antileukemic immune defence (ALID) aimed against the tumor-specific antigenic complex. Suppression of the ALID stems from autosuppression of the H-2 complex of the histocompatibility antigen system of T suppressors, which leads to the development of the onco-specific complex of autoimmune responses (OSCAR) and to the obligate development of RVE. The recovery of the ALID with OSCAR suppression and RVE regression is a consequence of the development of strictly specific antiidiotypic immune responses (antibodies AIT-anti-OSCAR). It is demonstrated that both passive administration of AIT-anti-OSCAR and induction of their active synthesis brings about a remission of RVE.

[Quantitative determination of the soluble antigens of intestinal bacteria using a method of immunoenzyme analysis. I. Processing of the parameters of the method]. / Kolichestvennoe opredelenie rastvorimykh antigenov nekotorykh kishechnykh bakterii metodom immunofermentnogo analiza. Soobshchenie I. Otrabotka parametrov metoda.

The parameters of the assay based on the quantitative evaluation of the neutralization of specific antibodies by the antigen under study and the subsequent detection of free antibodies on the fixed reference antigen with the aim of the quantitative determination of the specific O-antigens of Salmonella, groups D, B, C1, as well as those of Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri, have been developed. The proposed method makes it possible to detect the O-antigen of the causative agent at concentrations of 0.001 micrograms/ml to 100 micrograms/ml.