Presence of IgE class antibodies with cardiolipinic and treponemal specificity in syphilis. Quantitative evaluation by IgE prist radio-immuno-assay.

60 serum samples (reactive in VDRL, ELISA-Reiter, FTA-Abs tests) from 25-45 years old male patients with untreated latent syphilis (EL) (30 cases) and persistent positive treated syphilis (ET+) (30 cases) were tested for IgE by IgE-PRIST. On 30 sera from 25-45 years old male healthy persons, normal mean value for serum IgE was established: 159.63 +/- 124.09 U/ml. Cardiolipin and group treponemal IgE fractions were indirectly calculated by the difference between the specific activity induced by sera as such and that induced by sera absorbed with cardiolipin and group treponemal sorbents. In EL, total IgE level was 197 +/- 107 U/ml; cardiolipin IgE -24.9 +/- 8.3 U/ml and group treponemal IgE 35.8 +/- 6.6 U/ml. In ET, total IgE value was 152.6 +/- 122.5 U/ml, cardiolipin IgE -11 +/- 10.5 and group treponemal IgE -26.6 +/- 14.2 U/ml. Summing up the two specificities, the total specific IgE represent about 1/3 from total IgE in EL and 1/5 in ET+. Taking into account the short half-life (2-3 days) of IgE presence of a significant proportion of specific IgE in those two stages proves, by their continuous synthesis paralleling antigenic stimulation, the presence in various tissular zones of viable treponemas as sources of antigens.

Testosterone in sera of workers exposed to acrylonitrile.

Testosterone was measured through three consecutive years in sera from young and adult male subjects working in a chemical factory exposed to some complex chemical noxae, the major exposure being acrylonitrile (vinylcyanid). In the first yr, (group A), the blood was collected on May 1975 (no 39), the II-nd yr (group B) on March (no 109) and the III-rd yr (group C) on May (no 149). The exposure time varied in each group between 6 mos and 7-10 yrs. For comparison, blood samples were collected from 145 men of comparable age grouped in nonexposed: blood donors (no 37) (group a), new workers (no 23) (group b) and exposed to other chemical noxae in the same factory: Na cyanid (group c, no 23), cyan derivatives (group d, no 22) and pyrolysis (group no 39). The seasonal testosterone variations being considered, the Student's 't' test applied to the hormonal levels in acrylonitrile groups A, B and C showed non significant differences. However, the comparison of the testosterone concentrations in sera of the groups A, B and C vs the control groups investigated during the same month of the year showed much lower levels of the hormone in the first groups (p less than 0.001). These data are suggesting that the exposure to acrylonitrile either by direct participation to the technological chain or by working in the same noxious environment may influence the testosterone synthesis and/or secretion.

Antigens with glycoprotein structure in the gastric juice. I. Immunological and chemical determinations.

To demonstrate the presence of specific antigens in the normal and malignant gastric juice the immunological and chemical features of certain antigens with glycoprotein structure from malignant gastric jucice and gastric tumors were studied comparatively with those of antigens obtained from normal gastric juice and gastric tissue. The investigation was carried out in tumor tissue extracts from 7 patients with malignant gastric tumors and in gastric juice from 45 patients with other non-cancerous diseases. From the five fractions obtained, which gave immunoelectrophoretic precipitin lines in the beta and alpha-globulin regions with the antiserum against total normal gastric juice, a single specific was separated by means of successive chromatographies on sephadex G--100 and DEAE-Sephadex -a--50 (eluted in NaCl concentration gradient). This fraction represented 11.1 per cent of the total proteins. None of the five fractions could be identified with carcinoembryonic antigen (value in gastric juice and gastric malignant tumors = 2 to 10 ng per mg lyophilized products).