background : graves’ disease is an autoimmune disease, characterized by the presence of antibodies directed to tsh receptor or nearby regions as well as antibodies to double strands dna (dsdna) anticardiolipin and nuclear antibodies. this study evaluated anticardiolipin and rheumatoid factor, such as iga and igm antibodies in patients with graves’ disease.   patients and methods: anticardiolipi...

non-enzymatic glycosylation of proteins is one of the key mechanisms in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. glycation of igg is of special interest due to its possible influence on the functionality of immunoglobulins and overall immuno-competence. the aim of this study was to clarify more details of in vitro glycation of igg and to study the effect of this modification on its interatio...

Two different cases of Stevens - Johnson syndrome are reported. We used intravenous immunoglobulin in their management and compared the results of treatment with the conventional lines of therapy in a historical control.

Observational studies on the humoural immune responses of the Warao indigenous people from Delta Amacuro, an isolated area, were compared with urban residents of the Venezuelan capital. Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific reactivities (IgM, IgE, sIgA, IgG and IgG subclasses) were measured by ELISA using PPD and 38-kDa M. tuberculosis antigens. A total of 294 individuals were studied, 162 Warao ...

In previous studies, BALB/c mice immunized with trinitrophenyl-specific IgA protein (M315) produced by MOPC-315 developed idiotype (Id315)-specific T cells that suppressed M315 secretion in vivo. In the present in vitro studies, we show that inhibition of M315 secretion is mediated by a theta,Lyt-1-2+ cell that expresses a surface membrane receptor for Id315. The suppressor signal is a diffusab...

Recently, we identified that diverse heavy chain (H-chain)-only IgG is spontaneously produced in light chain (L-chain)-deficient mice (L(-/-) with silenced kappa and lambda loci) despite a block in B cell development. In murine H-chain IgG, the first Cgamma exon, C(H)1, is removed after DNA rearrangement and secreted polypeptides are comparable with camelid-type H-chain IgG. Here we show that L...

We examined sera from 42 patients 1 to 30 months of age for rotavirus immunoglobulin M (IgM), IgA, IgG, and IgG subclasses and sought to determine if serum antibody could serve as a reliable marker for prediction of disease severity. Infants in the first few months of life usually had high maternal IgG titers and, when they were infected with rotavirus, had low IgM titers or no IgM in acute-pha...

Activation-induced deaminase (AID) is a protein indispensable for the diversification of immunoglobulin (Ig) genes by somatic hypermutation (SHM), class switch recombination (CSR), and gene conversion. To date, the precise role of AID in these processes has not been determined. Here we demonstrate that purified, tetrameric AID can deaminate cytidine residues in DNA, but not in RNA. Furthermore,...

J chain is associated with pentameric IgM and dimeric IgA via disulfide bonds involving the penultimate cysteine residue in the secretory tailpiece of the mu or the alpha heavy chain. We have investigated the structural basis for incorporation of J chain by analyzing several IgM mutants, IgA mutants and IgG/IgM hybrid molecules. IgM mutants with the mu secretory tailpiece replaced by the alpha ...