The Effects O F Therapy and Splenectomy on Immunity in Malignant Lymphoma

vascular fibrin formation were studied; ( I ) patients with preeclampsia; (2) those having treatment with ancrod (Arvin). In preeclampsia, soluble fibrin formation was greatly. increased in comparison with normal pregnant women. The isolated fibrin contained intact a, p and 7 chains; on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, no crosslinking of y chains could be found. A positive correlation was found, in fresh plasma samples, between the concentration of soluble fibrin as measured by affinity chromatography and the concentration of. soluble fibrin-fibrinogen complexes as measured by agarose gel filtration. It appears that these soluble fibrin complexes consist of a mixture of fibrinogen and fibrin in a 1 :I ratio. During ancrod therapy, soluble fibrin was found in greatly increased amounts, and could be separated into two types by affinity chromatography. The greater part had a reduced a chain content, and could be eluted from the affinity column at 37°C. The smaller part had intact a chain and was not eluted at 37”C, suggesting that the extent and type of complex formation is dependent upon temperature. The fact that complexes are partially degraded during ancrod infusion suggests that they are formed by degradation of fibrin which is unstable due to the absence of crosslinking by factor XIII. In contrast, the fibrin complexes in preeclampsia may represent the early formation of fibrin which, if polymerization continues, may lead to intravascular fibrin deposition.