[Three cases of chronic polyarthritis after silicon implantation (breast augmentation): causal relationship?]. / Drei Fälle von chronischer Polyarthritis nach Silikon-Implantation (Mamma-Augmentations-plastik): Kausalzusammenhang?

We describe three women with rheumatoid arthritis after augmentation mammoplasty with silicone implants. The possibility for a causal relationship between silicone implantation and arthritis as examples of a "human adjuvant disease" is discussed.

Association of class I, II, and III MHC gene products with systemic lupus erythematosus. Results of a Central European multicenter study.

Class I, II, and III MHC gene products were examined in 248 Central European SLE patients. The previously reported association with HLA-A1, -B8 and -DR3, and C4AQ0 alleles was confirmed. The frequency of HLA-DR2 was also slightly elevated in SLE patients, while no increase in C4BQ0 alleles was observed. Additional findings were a significantly increased frequency of HLA-B13 and a significant decrease of HLA-B44.

Autoimmune sera recognize a 100 kD nuclear protein antigen (sp-100).

Autoimmune sera from patients suffering from undifferentiated connective tissue diseases (UCTD), Sjögren's syndrome (SS), primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and other disorders were found to contain antibodies that produce a distinctive nuclear spot pattern with HEp-2 cells in immunofluorescence studies. These spots which vary in size and number, are spread over the whole nucleus with the exception of the nucleoli. This pattern is easily distinguishable from the staining patterns of anti-centromere, anti-RNP, anti-nucleolar and anti-Scl-70 antibodies. In cells of non-human origin this pattern is discerned only at high serum concentrations. Immunoblotting experiments with a soluble protein fraction from HeLa nuclei revealed that the antigenic target common to all sera is a polypeptide of 100 kD with a pI value of about 5.2. The correlation between immunofluorescence and immunoblotting data was confirmed by affinity-purification of sp-100 specific autoantibodies followed by immunofluorescence experiments.

Antibodies to dsDNA: failure to detect antigenic determinants specific for superhelical B-DNA.

IgG antibodies of SLE sera were tested for their reactivity with SV40 DNA in superhelical, open circular and linear conformations. In binding and competition studies with 12 IgG dsDNA positive sera we could not demonstrate antibodies reacting with antigenic sites specific for superhelical structures of DNA, nor did we find Z-DNA antibodies reacting with superhelical SV40 DNA.

[Histone antibodies: significance in the diagnosis of SLE in comparison to dsDNA antibodies and antibodies to extractable nuclear antigens]. / Histonantikörper: Bedeutung in der Diagnostik des SLE im Vergleich zu dsDNS-Antikörpern und Antikörpern gegen "extrahierbare nukleäre Antigene".

Antibodies to histones of the IgG-class are specific for SLE and can be shown in 23% of the sera. They are not associated with clinical symptoms of SLE, but with dsDNA-antibodies.

Antibodies to histones of the IgG and IgM class in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Antibodies to histones were measured by an ELISA. Histone antibodies of the IgM class could be detected in other diseases than SLE, as well as in healthy persons. However, IgG histone antibodies proved to be specific for SLE and could be found in 21% of the SLE patients. These antibodies were highly associated with dsDNA antibodies of the IgG class. We could not find any correlation between IgG histone antibodies and clinical symptoms of SLE. IgG histone antibodies mostly reacted equally with all tested histone fractions.

Antibodies to dsDNA and ssDNA in the immunoglobulin classes IgG and IgM: prognostic value in the course of SLE.

Antibodies to dsDNA of the IgG-class show a strong association with disease activity in the course of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Of 22 patients with low dsDNA-levels only one had an exacerbation. In 8 patients a rise of IgG-dsDNA antibodies to high levels occurred, followed by an exacerbation in 7 of them. In 6 of these 7 patients the IgG-dsDNA antibodies had a prognostic value by rising into high ranges 2-12 weeks before the exacerbation. IgG-ssDNA antibodies showed only a weak association to the clinical course. IgM antibodies to dsDNA as well as to ssDNA did not correlate with the clinical activity at all.

[DNA antibodies during the clinical course of systemic lupus erythematosus]. / DNS-Antikörper in der Verlaufskontrolle des systemischen Lupus erythematodes.

IgG-dsDNA-antibodies are of prognostic value in the course of SLE. At present it remains open whether they are suitable to use them for therapeutic measures.

Enzyme immunoassay for IgG and IgM antibodies against dsDNA and ssDNA.

Two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for the detection of DNA antibodies are presented, one using lambda-phage DNA for the detection of dsDNA antibodies, the other using denatured calf thymus DNA for ssDNA antibodies. It was shown that only dsDNA antibodies of the IgG class were specific for SLE. IgM-dsDNA antibodies or ssDNA antibodies were not SLE-specific. Of 62 SLE patients 58% were positive for IgG-dsDNA antibodies. When only those patients with active disease were considered, 88% were positive. There was a positive correlation between the levels of IgG-dsDNA antibodies and the incidence of nephritis. When the ELISA for IgG-dsDNA antibodies was compared with the filter assay, the ELISA showed a considerably higher sensitivity.

Peripheral T lymphocytopenia under exogenous thermal stress.

A transient decrease in T lymphocytes in peripheral blood was observed in twelve healthy volunteers immersed in hot water baths which raised their mean rectal temperature by 1.35 C. T lymphocytes declined from 59 to 41 rel % (2p less than 0.001) or from a mean of 1990 to 1300 per mm3. T lymphocytopenia was accompanied by a relative increase in the fraction of B lymphocytes. Total lymphocyte count remained unchanged. In vitro heating alone to 39 C did not influence the total of SRBC-labelled lymphocytes. The findings are interpreted to be the result of a change in lymphocyte distribution with increased recirculation of mobile T lymphocytes.

[Quantitative changes in peripheral T-lymphocytes during hyperthermia (author's transl)]. / Quantitative Veränderungen peripherer T-Lymphozyten unter Hyperthermie.

A uniform, highly significant fall in T-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood, without any change in the absolute lymphocyte count occurred in 6 healthy test subjects in a standardized hyperthermal bath with a mean rise in the rectal body temperature of 1.35 degrees C. A redistribution from the blood into the tissue structures of the rapidly recirculating T-lymphocytes in the body is assumed. The clinical significance of this redistribution cannot yet be stated. With increased recirculation of immunoreactive T-lymphocytes an increased contact with antigenic material in the tissues traversed would be possible. This could be the basis of the "immunostimulation" during hyperthermia assumed by some authors.