Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Immunology logoLink to Immunology
. 1979 Jun;37(2):467–475.

Inhibition of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity by artificial immune complexes and pathological sera.

J M Howat, M Moore, A M Hilton, I Kimber
PMCID: PMC1457513  PMID: 468310

Abstract

Detection of immune complexes by inhibition of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) is based on the principle that soluble complexes can compete with target cell-bound antibody for receptors (FcR) on cytotoxic lymphocytes. The objective of this study was to define a cytotoxicity system for the determination of soluble immune complexes in the sera of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). For this purpose, the conditions under which soluble complexes of rat serum albumin (RSA) and rabbit anti-RSA inhibited human K-cell mediated lysis of sensitized Chang cells were examined, on the assumption that the behaviour in the system of circulating immune complexes putatively present in inflammatory bowel disease, is similar to that of artificial immune complexes. Inhibition of ADCC by a standard amount of artificial complex in different normal human sera was relatively uniform provided that the final concentration of the latter did not exceed 10% of the culture medium. In the absence of extraneous complexes, the effect of both normal and IBD sera on ADCC varied widely. Differential inhibition of ADCC by sera from patients with IBD and normal subjects was thus expressed as a function of ADCC in a standard batch of foetal bovine serum (FBS). Under these conditions differences between pathological (n = 51) and normal (n = 52) sera were highly significant (P less than 0.001), which could not be explained by the presence in the patients' sera of HL-A antibodies reactive with the effector cells, nor by a deficit in nutritional support of ADCC. The absence of a correlation between inhibition of ADCC and total serum IgG or IgM inferred that inhibition was attributable to immune complexes in the IBD sera. The limitations of this assay for assessment of the incidence of immune complexes in pathological sera are discussed.

Full text

PDF
467

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Agnello V., Winchester R. J., Kunkel H. G. Precipitin reactions of the C1q component of complement with aggregated gamma-globulin and immune complexes in gel diffusion. Immunology. 1970 Dec;19(6):909–919. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. De Dombal F. T., Burton I. L., Clamp S. E., Goligher J. C. Short-term course and prognosis of Crohn's disease. Gut. 1974 Jun;15(6):435–443. doi: 10.1136/gut.15.6.435. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Doe W. F., Booth C. C., Brown D. L. Evidence for complement-binding immune complexes in adult coeliac disease, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis. Lancet. 1973 Feb 24;1(7800):402–403. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(73)90254-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ezer G., Hayward A. R. Inhibition of complement-dependent lymphocyte rosette formation: a possible test for activated complement products. Eur J Immunol. 1974 Feb;4(2):148–150. doi: 10.1002/eji.1830040216. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hay F. C., Nineham L. J., Roitt I. M. Routine assay for the detection of immune complexes of known immunoglobulin class using solid phase C1q. Clin Exp Immunol. 1976 Jun;24(3):396–400. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hilton A. M., Moore M., Howat J. M. Detection of circulating anticomplementary factors in chronic lung diseases. Clin Exp Immunol. 1978 Feb;31(2):237–243. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hodgson H. J., Potter B. J., Jewell D. P. C3 metabolism in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Clin Exp Immunol. 1977 Jun;28(3):490–495. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hodgson H. J., Potter B. J., Jewell D. P. Immune complexes in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Clin Exp Immunol. 1977 Aug;29(2):187–196. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Jewell D. P., MacLennan I. C. Circulating immune complexes in inflammatory bowel disease. Clin Exp Immunol. 1973 Jun;14(2):219–226. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Johnson A. H., Mowbray J. F., Porter K. A. Detection of circulating immune complexes in pathological human sera. Lancet. 1975 Apr 5;1(7910):762–765. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(75)92433-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. KUNKEL H. G., MULLER-EBERHARD H. J., FUDENBERG H. H., TOMASI T. B. Gamma globulin complexes in rheumatoid arthritis and certain other conditions. J Clin Invest. 1961 Jan;40:117–129. doi: 10.1172/JCI104224. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Lurhuma A. Z., Cambiaso C. L., Masson P. L., Heremans J. F. Detection of circulating antigen-antibody complexes by their inhibitory effect on the agglutination of IgG-coated particles by rheumatioid factor of Clq. Clin Exp Immunol. 1976 Aug;25(2):212–226. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. MacLennan I. C. Competition for receptors for immunoglobulin on cytotoxic lymphocytes. Clin Exp Immunol. 1972 Feb;10(2):275–283. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Meltzer M., Franklin E. C. Cryoglobulinemia--a study of twenty-nine patients. I. IgG and IgM cryoglobulins and factors affecting cryoprecipitability. Am J Med. 1966 Jun;40(6):828–836. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(66)90199-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Nielsen H., Binder V., Daugharty H., Svehag S. E. Circulating immune complexes in ulcerative colitis. I. Correlation to disease activity. Clin Exp Immunol. 1978 Jan;31(1):72–80. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Nielsen H., Petersen P. H., Svehag S. E. Circulating immune complexes in ulcerative colitis.--II. Correlation with serum protein concentrations and complement conversion products. Clin Exp Immunol. 1978 Jan;31(1):81–91. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Nydegger U. E., Lambert P. H., Gerber H., Miescher P. A. Circulating immune complexes in the serum in systemic lupus erythematosus and in carriers of hepatitis B antigen. Quantitation by binding to radiolabeled C1q. J Clin Invest. 1974 Aug;54(2):297–309. doi: 10.1172/JCI107765. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Onyewotu I. I., Holborow E. J., Johnson G. D. Detection and radioassay of soluble circulating immune complexes using guinea pig peritoneal exudate cells. Nature. 1974 Mar 8;248(5444):156–159. doi: 10.1038/248156a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Potter M. R., Moore M. PHA stimulation of separated human lymphocyte populations. Clin Exp Immunol. 1975 Sep;21(3):456–467. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Rouse B. T., Grewal A. S., Babiuk L. A. Complement enhances antiviral antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity. Nature. 1977 Mar 31;266(5601):456–458. doi: 10.1038/266456a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. TRUELOVE S. C., WITTS L. J. Cortisone in ulcerative colitis; final report on a therapeutic trial. Br Med J. 1955 Oct 29;2(4947):1041–1048. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.4947.1041. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Teisberg P., Gjone E. Humoral immune system activity in inflammatory bowel disease. Scand J Gastroenterol. 1975;10(5):545–549. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Theofilopoulos A. N., Wilson C. B., Dixon F. J. The Raji cell radioimmune assay for detecting immune complexes in human sera. J Clin Invest. 1976 Jan;57(1):169–182. doi: 10.1172/JCI108257. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES