Increased serum IgA levels in rats after portacaval shunt but not after portacaval transposition.

Groups of rats were submitted to end-to-side portacaval shunt, portacaval transposition or a control sham operation. There was an 18-fold increase of the IgA level in the serum of portacavally shunted rats (n = 7) at 3-6 weeks after surgery. Gel filtration revealed that this increase was predominantly due to dimeric and polymeric IgA. The serum IgM of these shunted rats, but not the IgG, was also significantly increased (twofold) above their control values. In rats subjected to portacaval transposition (n = 6), there was no significant increase of serum IgA, IgM or IgG when compared with their control values. These data confirm the active transfer, by the healthy rat liver, of IgA and, to a lesser extent, of IgM from the blood into bile. Impairment of this function, leading to the accumulation of polymeric IgA and IgM in the serum, in portacavally shunted but not portacavally transposed animals, may be related to impairment of hepatic flood flow and hepatic atrophy, shown earlier to occur in portacavally shunted but not transposed rats. Such reduction in liver cell mass could also explain the fall in transferrin levels in shunted rats.

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome with partial response to transfer factor.

A male infant presented with dermatitis, purpura and susceptibility to bacterial infections. The clinical diagnosis of Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome was confirmed and after full immunological assessment, treatment with transfer factor was commenced. This has resulted in a rise in the platelet count and improvement in the bleeding tendency. This improvement in the haematological aspect of the disease has, however, been accompanied by exacerbations of the cutaneous lesions.

Histocompatibility antigens in active chronic hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis.

The frequency of antigens HL-A 1 (48%) and HL-A 8 (52%) in 54 patients with active chronic hepatitis from south-east England was significantly higher than in 89 control subjects from the same region (22% and 17% respectively). No correlation could be detected with the age and sex of the patients or with the presence of a particular immunological abnormality but the frequency of HL-A 1 and HL-A 8 was much lower in the nine patients who were positive for HBAg than in the 45 HBAg-negative cases. These results provide further evidence of the importance of genetic factors in active chronic hepatitis. In contrast the frequency of HL-A 1 and HL-A 8 in primary biliary cirrhosis, both in 45 patients from south-east England and in 28 patients from western Scotland, was not significantly different from that found in control groups from the same regions.