Figure 4.

Some BALB/c mice mount humoral immune responses to hAAT, which correlate with lower serum levels but no observable toxicity. (a) Serum hAAT levels (upper graph) and serum anti-hAAT antibody levels (lower graph) as determined by ELISA performed on serum taken from mice injected with 1 × 10¹¹ particles of the C-AT vector. Each set of symbols represents an individual animal (□, no. 1; ▵, no. 2; ○, no. 3). Note the inverse correlation between the presence of antibody and the presence of circulating hAAT. (b) hematoxylin/eosin-stained sections from the injection site in BALB/c mice (original magnification, X2000). Section A is from the hAAT-expressing animal (animal no. 1 from a); section B is from an anti-hAAT-positive mouse which did not have appreciable hAAT activity in the serum (animal no. 2 from a). Section C is from the site of injection in a BALB/c mouse injected with a similar dose of the E-AT vector.