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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2000, p. 175-181, Vol. 7, No. 2
Discipline of Immunology, Federal University
of São Paulo (UNIFESP),1
Laboratory of Medical Mycology, Instituto de Medicina
Tropical de São Paulo,2 and
Laboratory of Medical Investigation 56, São Paulo
University Medical School,3 São Paulo
Brazil
Received 2 June 1999/Returned for modification 30 September
1999/Accepted 24 November 1999
Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is the most prevalent systemic mycosis
in Latin America. Patients with PCM show a wide spectrum of clinical
and pathological manifestations depending on both host and pathogen
factors. Two clinical forms of the disease are recognized: the acute or
juvenile form and the chronic or adult form. The major antigenic
component of the parasite is a glycoprotein of 43 kDa (gp43). All
patient sera present antibodies against gp43 (anti-gp43) and, as
demonstrated before by our group, spontaneous anti-idiotypic (anti-Id)
antibodies (Ab2) can be detected in patient sera with high titers of
anti-gp43. Since it has been postulated that anti-Id antibodies may
have a modulating function, we decided to purify and characterize
anti-Id antibodies in this system. The possible correlation of Ab2
titers with different clinical forms of disease was also verified.
Results showed that purified human anti-Id antibodies (human Ab2)
recognized specifically the idiotype of some murine monoclonal
anti-gp43 (17c and 3e) but not others (40.d7, 27a, and 8a). Spontaneous
anti-Id antibodies were found in all clinical forms of disease. The
majority of patients (88%, n = 8) with the acute form
of PCM had high titers of Ab2. However, among patients with the
multifocal chronic form of the disease, only 29% (n = 14) had high titers of Ab2; 70% (n = 10) of patients
with the unifocal chronic form had low titers of Ab2. A correlation
between Ab2 titers and anti-gp43 titers was observed before and during
antimycotic treatment. Our results suggest that titers of anti-Id
antibodies correlate with the severity of PCM in humans.
1071-412X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Anti-Idiotypic Antibodies in Patients with
Different Clinical Forms of Paracoccidioidomycosis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Universidade
Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Disciplina de Imunologia,
Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Rua
Botucatu, 862, 4 Andar, CEP 04023-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Phone: 55 11 549 6073. Fax: 55 11 549 6073. E-mail:
daniel.dmip{at}epm.br.
| Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. | Clin. Microbiol. Rev. | Infect. Immun. |
|---|---|---|
| J. Clin. Microbiol. | J. Virol. | ALL ASM JOURNALS |