Lysosome response and cytoskeleton alteration in cell cultures exposed to airborne lead.

The results indicate that the delay in acridine orange loss by lysosomes exposed to UV can serve as a sensitive probe to the lead content of the cell milieu and the induced responses. This lysosome stabilization is in agreement with the reported decreased release of lysosome enzymes by lead in rat cerebral tissue. The lead induced lysosome stabilization reported here is undoubtedly pathologic in view of the cytoskeleton alteration that usually accompanied the introduction of lead in the cell media either from laboratory sources or natural conditions.

Sarcoid and cytotoxic lung antibodies.

Fifteen cases of Sarcoidosis were investigated for the presence of complement dependent cytotoxicity against human lung cells grown in tissue culture. Significant levels were found in eleven cases. Absorption studies revealed that these antibodies associated with sarcoidosis could be absorbed by human lung fibroblasts but not by fibroblasts derived from human foreskin or kidney. Although we found a similar antibody frequently associated with extrinsic asthma we have only rarely found these antibodies in cases of tuberculosis, carcinoma of the lung, emphysema and intrinsic asthma.

Antibodies to synovial-derived cells in patients undergoing artificial prosthesis implants.

In this preliminary study, the authors have found cytotoxic complement-dependent synovial antibodies in the serum of patients undergoing prosthesis implantation; these were particularly evident in those patients undergoing revision surgery. In order to demonstrate the synovial antibodies, it was necessary that the authors modify the method they had previously used in their studies of cytotoxic lung and kidney antibodies. While conventional trypsinization dispersion produced synovial target cells that would not react in the test system, mechanical dispersion successfully produced target cells sensitive to complement-dependent cytotoxic antibodies. In this study, synovial antibodies reacted similarly to cells derived from the synovium of different individuals, but they did not react to cells derived from tissues other than synovium. This tissue specificity was confirmed by absorption studies that indicated the synovial antibodies to be organ specific. Whether these cytotoxic synovial antibodies can be predictive of the impending loss of an artificial prosthesis, or somehow be directly involved in the failure mechanism of that prosthesis, will require additional studies.

Antilung antibodies in asthma.

Twenty-four asthmatic patients were evaluated for the presence of circulating cytotoxic lung antibodies. These patients were further classified as either extrinsic or intrinsic asthmatics on the basis of skin testing, age of onset, and atopic history. Of the 12 patients considered to have extrinsic asthma, 10 had positive titers, one borderline, and one negative for cytotoxic lung antibodies. In the group of 12 patients classified as intrinsic asthmatics, eight had negative titers, two borderline, and two positive for cytotoxic lung antibodies. Adsorption studies indicated that these antibodies were organ-specific. Twenty normal non-smoking controls were also tested, all of whom were negative. Five patients with allergic rhinitis, positive intradermal skin tests, and no history of asthma were found to be negative for cytotoxic lung antibodies.

Properties of a cytotoxic kidney antibody associated with human renal transplantation.

A technic for demonstrating a complement-dependent cytotoxic response specific for human kidney cells was developed. Positive and negative sera from kidney-transplant recipients were subjected to several assay and adsorption procedures. The cytotoxic antibody reaction appeared to be specific against human kidney in tests with a variety of target cells. Manifestation of the typical cytotoxic effect depended on kidney explant target-cell surface changes following attachment, outgrowth, and dispersion of the first passage monolayer. A comparison of serum responses to lymphocytes and to kidney cells indicated that the cytotoxic response by human kidney cells is not related to the lymphocytotoxic antibodies associated with the HLA system.

Anti-lung antibodies associated with human lung allografts.

Serum specimens from 4 patients who had had a lung allograft were examined for anti-lung antibodies. Two patients developed antibodies after transplantation, and in 2, the antibodies increased in titer after an allograft. The absorption of the anti-lung antibody by fetal lung cell cultures, in contrast to the failure of absorption by kidney cell cultures from the same fetus, indicates that the antibody is lung specific.

Interaction of air pollution and hyperbaric oxygen on virus replication.

A study was undertaken to weigh the effects of air pollution and oxygen at high pressure on the susceptibility of mice to Coxsackievirus B1 infection. Animals exposed to air pollutants or oxygen at high pressure were found to contain higher amounts of recoverable virus than control animals. Animals exposed to both air pollutants and oxygen at high pressure were found to contain the greatest levels of recoverable virus. This same group of animals was also found to have hearts which were smaller than any other group. Animals maintained in an ambient atmosphere had higher levels of recoverable virus and smaller hearts than animals exposed to terpene vapors and hyperbaric oxygen. The results of this study suggest that terpene vapors may nullify the activity of oxygen at high pressure.

Anti-kidney cytotoxic antibodies in human renal allografts.

Periodic comparisons were made of sera from two groups of patients, ten who rejected their renal transplants within a year after transplantation and ten who successfully maintained their transplanted kidneys for five years or more. What appeared to be anti-kidney cytotoxic antibodies were found in much higher levels in the sera of those patients with the short-lived transplants, the difference in titer levels between the two groups being significant at the .0001 levels. This antibody showed no correlation with either the presence or the absence of lymphocytotoxic antibodies, nor did it appear to have any relationship to the HL-A antigens or the previous renal disease of the recipient patient. While it was cytotoxic to tissue cultures of cells obtained from random human kidneys, human kidney tumor cells (Wilms), and human embryonic kidneys, this antibody did not react with non-renal human tissues (lung, spleen, deltoid muscle, foreskin). It did not react with nonhuman (simian) kidney tissue culture cells. The findings suggest the appearance of an organ-specific, cytotoxic anti-kidney antibody in patients undergoing renal homograft rejection.