RESUMEN
43 adults from a renal dialysis unit staff have received regularly spaced gamma-globulin administrations for hepatitis B prophylaxis. Several blood samples were collected over a prolonged period of time (160 days). Following gamma-globulin administration, anti-immunoglobulin antibodies of the IgE class were detected in 80% of this population, a fortnight after the first injection using serum absorptions on polymerized gamma-globulins or a specific inverse RAST method. The reactivity pattern of these IgE anti-immunoglobulin antibodies was similar to that observed for the anti-immunoglobulin antibodies with "limited specificity" detected by passive hemagglutination, in that they reacted with only one of the immunoglobulins of the panel used for their detection. A decrease of the overall IgE levels was observed in 62% of the subjects for a prolonged period of time following gamma-globulin administration. This suggests a feedback regulation mechanism for the reagin production in man, as it has already been observed in animals. A high incidence of anti-immunoglobulin antibodies of various classes was observed in this study. However, only a small number (4/43) of adverse reactions appeared following gamma-globulin administration. For some of these subjects, the presence of specific IgE anti-immunoglobulin, detected by the inverse-RAST technique, suggests a possible role of such antibodies in some intolerance reactions to gamma-globulin administration.
