The proteins in nasal secretion: a longitudinal study of the gammaA-globulin, gammaG-globulin, albumin, siderophilin, and total protein concentrations in nasal washings from adult male volunteers.

The long-standing observations that respiratory secretions contain virus-neutralizing substances (1-3) have recently been extended by the demonstration that antibody activity associated with the yA-globulin in nasal secretion may protect against respiratory virus infection (4). Since protection was most clearly seen in individuals with relatively high titers of nasal antibody, and since yA-globulin is known to be selectively accumulated in nasal secretion (5, 6), it seems possible that local concentrations of antibody globulin may be determined by at least two distinct but interrelated processes, 1) those concerned with synthesis of specific immunoglobulin, and 2) those involved in its delivery into the nasal secretions. The present investigation explores mechanisms involved in the delivery of immunoglobulin by examining the relationship between the mucus content and the concentrations of yA-globulin, -yG-globulin, albumin, siderophilin, and total protein in nasal washings from normal volunteers.