SERUM COMPLEMENT ACTIVITY IN HUMAN RENAL ALLOGRAFTS,
Abstract
In an attempt to obtain evidence of participation of the complement-fixing circulating antibody in human renal homograft rejection, serial analyses of total serum complement activity were performed in 15 patients receiving renal allografts at Wilford Hall USAF Hospital. Of the samples drawn during overt clinical rejection crises and assayed, 41 per cent showed subnormal complement activity in the absence of anti-complementary factors. Serial examination of renal biopsies on four of the same patients indicated scattered, focal, specific immunofluorescence that was localized primarily to tubular but seen also in glomerular and vascular structures using antiserum against human gamma G and antiserum against human beta 1A-beta 1C. Specific immunofluorescence was evidence of deposition of immune aggregates at the sites visualized and indicated that they were complement binding. It was observed that immune aggregates were visualized consistently in pathologically involved renal homografts, but the inconsistent fall in serum complement activity during overt rejection suggested that complement-fixing antibody played a minor role in rejection mechanism. It was suggested alternatively, and considered more likely, that the observed data might be the result of non-specific renal localization of specific immune aggregates in a manner analogous to that described in serum sickness. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0662608
Entities
People
- John J. Mcphaul Jr.