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. 1998 Mar;42(3):357–361. doi: 10.1136/gut.42.3.357

Increased immunoglobulin G production by short term cultured duodenal biopsy samples from HIV infected patients

T Schneider 1, T Zippel 1, W Schmidt 1, G Pauli 1, U Wahnschaffe 1, S Chakravarti 1, W Heise 1, E Riecken 1, M Zeitz 1, R Ullrich 1
PMCID: PMC1727036  PMID: 9577341

Abstract

Background—Secretory immunity is a major defence mechanism against infections at mucosal surfaces which are common in HIV infected patients. 
Aims—To analyse intestinal immunoglobulin production in HIV infection in comparison with that in saliva and serum. 
Patients and methods—Immunoglobulin G (IgG), A (IgA), and M (IgM) concentrations were determined in supernatants of short term cultured duodenal biopsy samples, serum, and saliva from HIV infected patients (n = 28) and controls (n = 14) by radial immunodiffusion. 
Results—IgG was increased in the supernatants of short term cultured biopsy samples and saliva from HIV infected patients compared with controls (p<0.01), but IgA and IgM levels were normal. In contrast, both IgG and IgA concentrations in serum were higher in HIV infected patients than in controls (p<0.002). No correlation was found between IgA produced by duodenal biopsy specimens and serum IgA. 
Conclusion—Abnormalities in mucosal immunoglobulin production in HIV infection were suprisingly small, indicating that specific secretory immunity rather than quantitative immunoglobulin production may be impaired. However, increased production of IgG could contribute to mucosal inflammation by complement activation. Our findings of normal mucosal IgA production and the lack of correlation between serum and mucosal IgA argues against an intestinal origin for the increased serum IgA levels in HIV infected patients. 



Keywords: mucosal immunity; HIV infection; intestinal antibodies

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Figure 1 .

Figure 1

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Autoradiography of short term cultured biopsy supernatants after 35S-labelling of immunoglobulin disulphide bonds. The two autoradiographs (A, non-reducing conditions; B, reducing conditions) show in lane 1 the Protein A/Sepharose precipitate and in lane 2 the Protein A/Sepharose/anti-IgA precipitate. Under non-reducing conditions the immunoglobulin remains intact and migrates at 160 kDa. Under reducing conditions the immunoglobulin is cleaved into the heavy chain migrating at 55 kDa, seen here, and a band of 25 kDa, not seen on the 10% gel used here which separates molecules in the molecular mass range 29-200 kDa. 


Figure 2 .

Figure 2

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Representative example of immunoglobulin isotype (IgG, IgA, IgM) concentrations in 48 hour culture supernatant, and in biopsy samples before and after culture. 


Figure 3 .

Figure 3

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Quantitative analysis of the three isotypes in (A) duodenal biopsy supernatants, (B) saliva, and (C) serum from controls, HIV infected patients with and without AIDS displayed as box plots. Bold horizontal bars represent the median; lower and upper ends of the boxes represent 25th and 75th percentiles respectively; lower and upper "whiskers" represent the 10th and 90th percentiles respectively. 


Selected References

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