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The proportion of B lymphocyte subsets with surface immunoglobulin G (sIgG) was significantly increased in minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS), membranous nephropathy, IgA nephropathy and mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis (MCON) and with sIgA in IgA nephropathy and MCGN, and with sIgE in MCNS. Increased subsets in membranous nephropathy, IgA nephropathy and MCGN corresponded to the immunoglobulins deposited in the glomeruli, and the increased subset of sIgE in MCNS was correlated with the elevation of serum IgE. These results suggest that each disease studied has a characteristic subset pattern of B lymphocyte response. This may have an important rote in determining the histological type of idiopathic glomerulonephritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-two adult patients with minimal change nephritic syndrome (MCNS) were studied in order to clarify the characteristics of the immune system in MCNS and their relation to clinical activity. In the active phase (n = 17), serum immunoglobulin (Ig) M and E levels, B lymphocytes (surface Ig-positive cells) and their subsets, surface IgG, IgM and IgE positive cells; Bγ, Bμ and B∊, were increased, whereas the serum IgG level and OKT3-reactive cells, peripheral T lymphocytes; T3, were decreased. In the remitted phase maintained by steroid therapy (n = 17), serum Igs and and B lymphocytes subsets tended to return to normal levels concomitant with decreases in T3 and T4, and an increase in T8 in consequence of a marked decrease in T4/T8 (helper/suppressor) ratio. In stable remission continuing with no steroid therapy (n = 14), the above abnormalities returned to normal ranges, except for serum IgM which remained at a high level and re-elevated serum IgE. These results suggest that immunological abnormalities in MCNS are characterized by acceleration of the IgE and IgM producing systems and impaired maturation of the IgG producing system despite normal differentiation from the IgM producing to IgG producing system, possibly caused by T lymphocyte dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the case of a Japanese girl who suffered from both Behçet's disease (BD) and bilateral sacroiliitis. This patient was diagnosed with BD at 8 years of age, and began to complain of buttock pain when she was 10 years old. X-rays of her pelvis showed bilateral grade 3 sacroiliitis, and bone scintigraphy showed an increased uptake in the sacroiliac joints. Movements of the spine and chest expansion were not restricted. HLA typing was positive for B44 and DR4, but negative for B27. The patient was not diagnosed as having seronegative spondyloarthropathy. This case indicates that erosive sacroiliitis is an intrinsic condition of BD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated IgG, IgA and IgM class specific antibodies to five bacterial (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium and Shigella flexneri) lipopolysaccharides (LPS) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 144 Japanese patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). AS patients had significantly elevated IgA antibodies to K. pneumoniae LPS, Salmonella enteritidis LPS and Salmonella typhimurium LPS; however, there was no correlation between antibody level to LPS and acute-phase reactants, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and serum C-reactive protein. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]