IgG antibodies to M.tuberculosis antigens were measured by ELISA directly in 51 pairs of sera and pericardial fluids taken from 51 patients with pericarditis at the time of diagnosis. Patients with pericarditis due to tuberculosis have significantly higher level of IgG antibodies in both sera and pericardial fluid than that of the patients with pericarditis due to the other causes and than that of normal, healthy controls. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA were 84.2% and 88.5%, respectively. The positive and negative accordance of it was 80 and 90.3%
Tuberculosis ; Pericarditis ; Immunosorbents ; diagnosis ; therapeutics

It has been suggested that proteasome system has a role in initiation, progression, and complication stages of atherosclerosis. Although there is still controversy, there has been no research that compares the expression of proteasome in tissue and serum at each of these stages. This study aimed to investigated the expression of proteasome at different stages of atherosclerosis using rat model. We measured the expression of aortic proteasome by immunohistochemical analyses and were then analyzed using ImageJ software for percentage of area and integrated density. We used Photoshop version 3.0 to analyze aortic proteasome expression as a comparison. We measured serum proteasome expression by enzyme linked immunosorbents assays. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare mean value of percentage of area and serum proteasome. Analysis of variance test was used to compare mean value of integrated density. Correlation test between vascular proteasome expression and serum proteasome expression was made using Spearman test. A P-value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Compared with normal, percentage of area was higher in initiation, progression, and complication. Compared with normal, integrated density was higher in initiation and further higher in progression and complication. Data from Image J is similar with data from Photoshop. Serum proteasome expression was higher in initiation compared with normal, and further higher in progression and complication. It was concluded that there were different vascular proteasome expression and serum proteasome expression at the stages of atherosclerosis. These results may be used in research into new marker and therapeutic target in atherosclerosis.
Animals ; Atherosclerosis* ; Immunosorbents ; Models, Animal ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex* ; Rats*

BACKGROUNDSensitization in transplant candidates increases risk of irreversible immunologic injury of graft in the early period postoperatively. Elimination of anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies using protein A immunoadsorption (IA) might benefit these patients.

METHODSProtein A IA was used in 21 patients with high panel reactive antibody (PRA). The patients had IA 1 - 6 times (median 5 times) with the interval period was 2 - 5 days (median 2.5 days).

RESULTSTotal 67 IA procedures were carried out smoothly in all patients. IA treatment reduced PRA I (pre (31.4 ± 3.8)% vs. post (24.4 ± 3.4)%, P < 0.01) and II (pre (37.1 ± 4.3)% vs. post (34.1 ± 3.9)%, P < 0.01). However, PRA did not change in some patients after the treatment. The serum immunoglobulin (IgG, IgM and IgA) and complement C3, C4 level were decreased significantly. Hemoglobin and albumin levels were slightly decreased associated with IA procedures. Flu-like symptoms were observed in a few of cases during the procedure but generally mild and transient.

CONCLUSIONProtein A IA is capable to efficiently remove serum immunoglobulin and complement, reduce HLA class I and class II PRA in high sensitized transplant candidates, which is likely to benefit the kidney transplantation in these patients.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Immunosorbents ; therapeutic use ; Kidney Transplantation ; immunology ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Staphylococcal Protein A ; therapeutic use

BACKGROUNDSensitized recipients have a high risk of immunological graft loss due to hyperacute rejection and/or accelerated acute rejection. The presence of major histocompatibility complex class I-related chain A (MICA) antibodies has also been described associated with an increased rate of kidney-allograft rejection. The aim of this study was to describe the expression of MICA antibodies in sensitized recipients of renal transplantation and evaluate its influence on the kidney transplantation recipients.

METHODSA total of 29 sensitized recipients were included in this study. All patients received the MICA antibodies detection before and after protein A immunoadsorption. Panel reactive antibody (PRA), HLA-matches, acute rejection and postoperative one to four-week serum creatinine level were also collected and analyzed, respectively. No prisoners were used in this study.

RESULTSEight patients (27.6%) in all 29 sensitized recipients expressed the MICA antibodies but did not show higher acute rejection rate than the non-expressed patients (3/8, 37.5% vs. 8/21, 38.1%; P = 1.000). Recipients with PRA > 40% showed higher expression levels of MICA antibodies than the recipients with PRA < 40% (7/16, 43.8% vs. 1/13, 8.3%; P = 0.044). HLA mismatch did not have any effect on the expression of MICA antibodies (P = 1.000). MICA antibodies positive group had higher serum creatinine level than the control in postoperative one week ((135.4 ± 21.4) µmol/L vs. (108.6 ± 31.6) µmol/L, P = 0.036), but no significant difference in postoperative four weeks ((89.0 ± 17.1) µmol/L vs. (77.1 ± 15.9) µmol/L, P = 0.089). MICA antibodies decreased significantly after protein A immunoadsorption.

CONCLUSIONSMICA antibodies increase in the sensitized recipients, which have significant effects on the function of allograft in early postoperative period. Protein A immunoadsorption can decrease MICA antibodies effectively in sensitized recipients.

Adult ; Antibodies ; immunology ; metabolism ; Antilymphocyte Serum ; therapeutic use ; Cell Line ; Female ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class I ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunosorbents ; chemistry ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; therapeutic use ; Kidney Transplantation ; immunology ; Male ; Staphylococcal Protein A ; chemistry

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) gB is known to play important roles in cell surface attachment, virion penetration, spread of infection from cell to cell, and provocation of neutralizing antibody. This study was performed to determine the role of anti-HCMV gB antibody in overall neutralizing response in patients with HCMV infection and healthy control with past infection. HCMV gB was stably expressed in 293 cells. With the stable cell line expressing gB as a specific immunosorbent, anti-gB antibody was removed from the current and past HCMV-infected sera and the remaining neutralizing activity was measured by plaque assay. It was shown that 19-50% of the total virus-neutralizing activity of sera with past HCMV infections was derived from anti-gB antibody, but anti-gB antibody had little effect on the total serum virus-neutralizing activity in patients currently infected with HCMV. This result suggests that neutralizing antibody to HCMV gB may reflect disease status.
Adult ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Antibodies, Viral/immunology* ; Antibodies, Viral/blood ; Antigens, Viral/immunology ; Antigens, Viral/genetics ; Cells, Cultured ; Cytomegalovirus/immunology* ; Cytomegalovirus Infections/prevention & control ; Cytomegalovirus Infections/immunology* ; Female ; Fetus/cytology ; Fibroblasts/cytology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Viral/immunology ; Human ; Immunosorbents ; Lung/cytology ; Male ; Middle Age ; Neutralization Tests ; Recombinant Proteins/genetics ; Viral Envelope Proteins/immunology* ; Viral Vaccines