Skip to main content
PMC home page
The American Journal of Pathology logoLink to The American Journal of Pathology
. 1979 Oct;97(1):85–92.

Immune Complex Injury of the Lung

Peter A Ward
PMCID: PMC2042385  PMID: 158982

Abstract

Abundant evidence currently exists to suggest that immune complexes play an important role in inflammatory diseases of the lung. Clinically, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, eosinophilic granuloma of lung, and systemic lupus erythematosus have been shown to be associated with the presence of immune complexes both in lung and in the serum. Experimentally, there is compelling evidence that acute lung injury can be triggered by the deposition of complexes in vascular walls or by the presence of performed immune complexes instilled into the airways. The observed reactions are, as expected, complement- and neutrophil-dependent. The morphologic changes in lung caused by products of complement activation (C5a and related peptides) depend on whether complement activation occurs within the vasculature or within the airways. Airway activation is associated with intraalveolar accumulations of neutrophils, while intravascular activation leads to intracapillary sequestration of neutrophils. The chronic formation of immune complexes within the vasculature (in the model of “chronic serum sickness”) leads to an interstitial fibrotic reaction and a thickening of basement membranes. Recent studies of intravascularly infused preformed immune complexes indicate a proclivity for certain types of complexes to localize within lung. These “lung-seeking” complexes differ from non-lung-seeking complexes only in the ratio of antigen to antibody. Complement does not seem to alter the tendancy for certain complexes to localize within lung. These studies emphasize the potential importance of immune complexes in lung injury and point out the variety of mechanisms involved in both the localization process and the injury process.

Full text

PDF
90

Selected References

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

  1. Brentjens J. R., O'Connell D. W., Pawlowski I. B., Hsu K. C., Andres G. A. Experimental immune complex disease of the lung. The pathogenesis of a laboratory model resembling certain human interstitial lung diseases. J Exp Med. 1974 Jul 1;140(1):105–125. doi: 10.1084/jem.140.1.105. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Craddock P. R., Fehr J., Dalmasso A. P., Brighan K. L., Jacob H. S. Hemodialysis leukopenia. Pulmonary vascular leukostasis resulting from complement activation by dialyzer cellophane membranes. J Clin Invest. 1977 May;59(5):879–888. doi: 10.1172/JCI108710. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Desai U., Kreutzer D. L., Showell H., Arroyave C. V., Ward P. A. Acute inflammatory pulmonary reactions induced by chemotactic factors. Am J Pathol. 1979 Jul;96(1):71–83. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dreisin R. B., Schwarz M. I., Theofilopoulos A. N., Stanford R. E. Circulating immune complexes in the idiopathic interstitial pneumonias. N Engl J Med. 1978 Feb 16;298(7):353–357. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197802162980701. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Eagen J. W., Roberts J. L., Schwartz M. M., Lewis E. J. The composition of pulmonary immune deposits in systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1979 Feb;12(2):204–219. doi: 10.1016/0090-1229(79)90009-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Eisenberg H., Simmons D. H., Barnett E. V. Diffuse pulmonary interstitial disease; an immunohistologic study. Chest. 1979 Feb;75(2 Suppl):262–264. doi: 10.1378/chest.75.2_supplement.262. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fink J. N., Barboriak J. J., Sosman A. J., Bukosky R. J., Arkins J. A. Antibodies against pigeon serum proteins in pigeon breeders. J Lab Clin Med. 1968 Jan;71(1):20–24. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gadek J., Hunninghake G., Zimmerman R., Kelman J., Fulmer J., Crystal R. G. Pathogenetic studies in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Control of neutrophil migration by immune complexes. Chest. 1979 Feb;75(2 Suppl):264–265. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Johnson K. J., Anderson T. P., Ward P. A. Suppression of immune complex-induced inflammation by the chemotactic factor inactivator. J Clin Invest. 1977 May;59(5):951–958. doi: 10.1172/JCI108717. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Johnson K. J., Ward P. A. Acute immunologic pulmonary alveolitis. J Clin Invest. 1974 Aug;54(2):349–357. doi: 10.1172/JCI107770. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Johnson R. L., Ziff M. Lymphokine stimulation of collagen accumulation. J Clin Invest. 1976 Jul;58(1):240–252. doi: 10.1172/JCI108455. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Muhlfelder T. W., Niemetz J., Kreutzer D., Beebe D., Ward P. A., Rosenfeld S. I. C5 chemotactic fragment induces leukocyte production of tissue factor activity: a link between complement and coagulation. J Clin Invest. 1979 Jan;63(1):147–150. doi: 10.1172/JCI109269. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. O'Flaherty J. T., Kreutzer D. L., Ward P. A. Chemotactic factor influences on the aggregation, swelling, and foreign surface adhesiveness of human leukocytes. Am J Pathol. 1978 Mar;90(3):537–550. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. O'Flaherty J. T., Showell H. J., Ward P. A. Neutropenia induced by systemic infusion of chemotactic factors. J Immunol. 1977 May;118(5):1586–1589. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pepys J. Immunopathology of allergic lung disease. Clin Allergy. 1973 Mar;3(1):1–22. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.1973.tb01304.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Roska A. K., Garancis J. C., Moore V. L., Abramoff P. Immune-complex disease in guinea pig lungs. I. Elicitation by aerosol challenge, suppression with cobra venom factor, and passive transfer with serum. Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1977 Sep;8(2):213–224. doi: 10.1016/0090-1229(77)90111-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Scherzer H., Ward P. A. Lung injury produced by immune complexes of varying composition. J Immunol. 1978 Sep;121(3):947–952. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The American Journal of Pathology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Investigative Pathology

RESOURCES