Clinical and experimental immunology
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Clin. Exp. Immunol. · Jul 1981
The immunological measurements of 'free' secretory piece and its relationship to local IgA production.
Free secretory piece (FSP) was studied in the sputum of patients with chronic bronchitis. The concentrations were higher both in the presence of infection and when greater quantities of total secretory piece were present compared to the amount of 11S IgA. ⋯ The techniques employed offer a method for the study of the secretory IgA system in biological fluids. The preliminary results suggest that the secretory IgA system is independent of the systemic IgA system.
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Clin. Exp. Immunol. · Jan 1980
Case ReportsRecurrent meningococcal infections associated with a functional deficiency of the C8 component of human complement.
A patient is described who had a functional deficiency of the C8 complement component. His serum contained abnormal C8 which lacked some of the antigenic determinants of normal C8. ⋯ However, the serum was bactericidal only after the addition of C8-containing serum. As the patient did not give a history of susceptibility to other pyogenic organisms and has normal polymorph function, the circumstances of meningococcal infection must be unusual in that the plasma bactericidal activity critically determines the outcome: it may be that if large numbers of meningococci are not killed in the plasma, the polymorphs are overwhelmed.