The discovery of immunoglobulin E (IgE) was a breakthrough in the field of Allergy and Immunology. Our understanding of mechanisms of allergic reactions and the role of IgE in these disorders has paralleled to the discovery of treatment modalities for patients with allergy. Apart from allergic diseases, IgE is involved in pathogenesis of other disorders. Much controversy exists about the control of total IgE (tIgE) levels and allergen-specific IgE (sIgE) profiles in allergic individuals. This review aims at giving a comprehensive overview of IgE molecule and discussing the issues related to its importance in clinical setting.
Allergy and Immunology ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunoglobulin E ; Immunoglobulins

PURPOSE: House dust mites (HDMs) are an important source of indoor allergens associated with asthma, rhinitis and atopic dermatitis. Chicken immunoglobulin (Ig) Y is known to be a good alternative to mice and rabbit antibody production. In this study, we produced IgYs specific to HDMs and investigated their IgE immunoreactivities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Total IgYs were isolated from the yolks of White Leghorn hens immunized with either Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus or D. farinae protein extract. Control antibodies were separated from the yolks of immunized hens with phosphate buffered saline. IgYs specific to HDMs were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting analysis. RESULTS: The concentration of egg IgY specific to D. farinae in an immunized hen increased and the highest achieved was 661.3 ug/mg (per an egg) on day 47, compared with 760 ug/mg IgY specific to D. pteronyssinus on day 16. The D. pteronyssinus or D. farinae-specific IgY was detected by binding of each mite proteins, and their immunoreactivities were elevated dependent of the specific IgY concentration. CONCLUSION: IgY specific to HDMs may be a promising antibody for immunological diagnosis as well as identification of possible resistance relating to HDM allergy.
Allergens/*immunology ; Animals ; Antibodies/*immunology ; Chickens ; Egg Yolk/*immunology ; Female ; Immunoglobulins/*immunology ; Pyroglyphidae/*immunology

AIMTo explore the role of humoral immunity in the pathophysiological process of freezing injury and the possible immune interference in the preventation and treatment of frostbite.

METHODSSevere experimental freezing injury model was made in Wistar rats( n = 20). The concentration of three types of immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA and IgM), two types of complement components (C3 and C4), and circulating immune complex (CIC) were measured respectively before and at 4h, 1d, 3d, and 5d after frostbite. At the same time, the tissue immune complex (TIC) in skeletal muscle and the contents of the red blood cell immune complex (RBC-IC) were also observed and then was the red blood cell immune adherence activity (RCIA).

RESULTSSerum IgG concentration decreased rapidly to the lowest level at 4 h after frostbite IgA concentration dropped to the nadir on 1 day after freezing. Decreases of both immunoglobulins were maintained during the 5 days after frostbite. The fate of both C3 and C4 were the same as those immunoglobulins. Freezing had rather less effect on IgM level. CIC concentration in serum, expressed as the percent of prefreezing increased rapidly and to the zenith on the 3 days post-freezing. By immunofluorescence microscopy, thin continuous linear pattern (IgG) was demonstrated along the SM on the first day post-freezing. Granular and nodular deposits (IgG) appeared along the SM as the time proceeded after frostbite. RBC-IC contents, expressed as the erythrocyte IC rosette rate, increased significantly and to the zenith on the 3 d post-freezing, while RCIA depressed to the nadir at the same time.

CONCLUSIONThe freezing frostbite is an immune complex related disease which have not been reported by others before.

Animals ; Antigen-Antibody Complex ; analysis ; immunology ; Frostbite ; blood ; immunology ; Immunoglobulin A ; immunology ; Immunoglobulin G ; immunology ; Immunoglobulin M ; immunology ; Immunoglobulins ; immunology ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

The cloning and sequencing of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor (TSHR), combined with advances in molecular techniques, have facilitated the understanding of the interaction of the TSHR antibodies (TSHRAbs) with the TSHR at the molecular level and have allowed the delineation of their clinical role. TSHRAbs in vivo are functionally heterogeneous; the stimulating TSHRAbs cause hyperthyroidism and diffuse goiter in patients with Graves' disease, whereas, the blocking TSHRAbs cause hypothyroidism in some patients with autoimmune hypothyroidism and are the cause of transient neonatal hypothyroidism. Measuring TSHRAbs has potential clinical implications in differential diagnosis of Graves' disease, predicting the outcome of Graves' disease after antithyroid drug treatment, and predicting the fetal/neonatal hyperthyroidism or neonatal hypothyroidism. The existence of epitope heterogeneity in a patient, i.e., of stimulating TSHRAbs with epitopes other than on the N-terminal region of the extracellular domain, is significantly associated with favorable long-term clinical response to antithyroid drug treatment. Measuring these subtypes for thyroid-stimulating antibody (TSAb) has potential clinical impli-cations, for example, in predicting responsiveness to treatment in untreated patients with Graves' disease.
Autoantibodies/*immunology ; Epitopes/immunology ; Graves Disease/diagnosis/immunology/therapy ; Humans ; Hyperthyroidism/diagnosis/*immunology/therapy ; Hypothyroidism/diagnosis/*immunology/therapy ; Immunoglobulins, Thyroid-Stimulating ; Receptors, Thyrotropin/*immunology

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neuro-developmental disorders in early childhood which are defined by social difficulties, communication deficits and repetitive or restrictive interests and behaviours. The etiology of ASD remains poorly understood. Much research has shown that children with ASD suffer from immunological dysfunction. This article reviews the current research progress on immunological dysfunction in children with ASD, including abnormalities in immune cells, antibodies, complements, cytokines, major histocompatibility complex and their potential association with ASD, and explores the impacts of maternal immunological activation on the immune dysfunction of children with ASD.
Autoantibodies ; blood ; Child ; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive ; etiology ; immunology ; Cytokines ; physiology ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; blood ; Lymphocytes ; immunology

IgY antibodies, also called egg yolk immunoglobulins, are the only immunoglobulins in egg yolk and transferred in the female from serum to egg yolk to confer passive immunity to embryos and neonates. Using hens instead of mammals as the immunization host brings a number of advantages: Eggs are cheap and readily available; antibody levels in yolks are high; IgY isolation is fast and simple; and what is more; IgY neither binds the rheumatoid factor nor reacts to the mammalian complement factor. All these differences make IgY technology more widely applicable, such as in the production of polyclonal antibodies against various antigens, immunodiagnostics and immunotherapy, and many medical areas in both animals and human. IgY also has a good prospect in human immunocontraception.
Animals ; Chickens ; Egg Yolk ; immunology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; isolation & purification ; therapeutic use ; Vitellogenins ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo measure the subsets of dendritic cells 1 (DC1) in the bone marrow of severe aplastic anemia (SAA) patients and evaluate the relationships between the CD11c+CD83+ cells and Th1 cells, CD3+CD8+ cells or hematopoietic function and explore the role of DC1 in the pathogenesis of SAA.

METHODSBy FACS, the quantities and ratios of CD11c+CD1a+ cells, CD11c+CD83+ cells, Th1 cells, and CD3+CD8+ cells in the bone marrow of SAA patients and normal controls were detected respectively. The relationships between CD3+CD8+ cells and reticulocyte absolute value (Ret) or neutrophil absolute value (ANC), between Th1 cells and CD3+CD8+ cells, Ret or ANC, between CD11c+CD83+ cells, and Th1 cells, CD3+CD8+ cells, Ret or ANC were evaluated.

RESULTSIn normal controls' bone marrow, the percentages of Th1 cells, CD11c+CD1a+ cells, CD11c+CD83+ cells and the ratio of CD11c+CD83+/CD11c+CD1a+ were (0.42 +/- 0.30)%, (0.38 +/- 0.29)%, (0.37 +/- 0.32)% and 1.07 +/- 0.10, respectively. In untreated SAA patients, they were (4.87 +/- 0.54)%, (1.73 +/- 0.24)%, (3.38 +/- 0.56)% and 2.21 +/- 0.32 respectively, which were higher than that in normal controls (P < 0.01). In recovering SAA patients, the percentages of Th1 cells, CD11c+CD1a+ cells and CD11c+CD83+ cells decreased significantly to (0.53 +/- 0.22)%, (0.61 +/- 0.23)%, (0.65 +/- 0.22)%, respectively (P < 0.01). The ratio of CD11c+CD83+/CD11c+ CD1a+ in recovering SAA patients decreased to 1.37 +/- 0.25, which was similar to that in normal controls (P > 0.05). The percentage of CD3+CD8+ cells in untreated SAA patients was (32.32 +/- 10.22)%, and in recovering SAA patients decreased to (13.67 +/- 5.24)% (P < 0.01). The percentage of CD3+CD8+ cells in SAA patients was negatively correlated with their Ret and ANC (P < 0.05), while their Th1 cell percentages were positively correlated with their CD3+CD8+ cells (P < 0.01), and negatively correlated with their Ret and ANC (P < 0.01). SAA patient's CD11c+CD83+ cell percentages were positively correlated with their Th1 cell and CD3+CD8 cells (P < 0.01, P < 0.05), but negatively with their Ret and ANC (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONBoth immature DC1 and activated DC1 increased in the bone marrow of SAA patients, and the balance of DC1 subsets shifted from stable form to active one, which might promote Th0 cells to polarize to Th1 cells, and cause the over-function of T lymphocytes and hematopoiesis failure in SAA.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Anemia, Aplastic ; immunology ; Antigens, CD ; immunology ; Antigens, CD1 ; immunology ; Bone Marrow ; immunology ; CD11c Antigen ; immunology ; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; Child ; Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; immunology ; Male ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; immunology ; Th1 Cells ; immunology ; Young Adult

Antibodies ; immunology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; therapeutic use ; Limbic Encephalitis ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Middle Aged ; Receptors, GABA ; immunology

It has been reported that receptor-bound blocking type TSH receptor antibody (TRAb) can be converted to the stimulating type by anti-human IgG antibodies. To evaluate the relationship between the conversion of receptor-bound blocking type TRAb to the stimulating type and the biological activity of blocking type TRAb, we compared converting activities of blocking type TRAb from 10 patients with primary nongoitrous hypothyroidism with both the doses of blocking type TRAb which show 50% inhibition of 125I-bTSH binding to the TSH receptor and those which show 50% inhibition of TSH-stimulated cAMP production in cultured rat thyroid cells (FRTL-5). The additions of anti-human IgG antibody to FRTL-5 cell-bound blocking IgGs resulted in the increase in cAMP production in a dose-dependent manner and the converting activities (percent increase of cAMP production) also depended on the doses of blocking IgGs. The converting activities were significantly correlated with the doses of blocking IgGs which showed 50% inhibition of 125I-bTSH binding to the TSH receptor (r = 0.71, p = 0.011). And these converting activities were also significantly correlated with the doses of blocking IgGs which showed 50% inhibition of TSH-stimulated cAMP increase (r = 0.81, p = 0.002), and were negatively correlated with thyroid stimulation blocking antibody activities (r = 0.58, p = 0.02). We have demonstrated that all cell-bound blocking type TRAb were converted to the stimulating type by anti-human IgG antibody and the degree of conversion was negatively correlated with the biological activity of blocking type TRAb.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Adult ; Aged ; Antibodies/*immunology ; Autoantibodies/*immunology ; Binding, Competitive ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G/*immunology ; Immunoglobulins, Thyroid-Stimulating ; Middle Aged ; Receptors, Thyrotropin/*immunology ; Thyroid Gland/*immunology

Anemia, Aplastic ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Animals ; Antilymphocyte Serum ; immunology ; therapeutic use ; Calcineurin Inhibitors ; immunology ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; immunology ; therapeutic use ; Lymphocytes ; drug effects ; immunology ; Swine