Humoral and cellular responses to Pneumocystis carinii, CMV, and herpes simplex in patients with AIDS and in controls.

The titers of IgG and IgA to Pneumocystis carinii in 36 AIDS patients did not differ significantly from those in 31 controls. Only 2/15 patients (13%) with P. carinii pneumonia (PCP) had titers of IgM antibodies greater than or equal to 5, which is significantly less frequent than in 32 controls (62%) and in 21 AIDS patients without PCP (43%). The risk of PCP was 5 times higher in patients without IgM antibodies to P. carinii than in patients who had these antibodies. A significantly higher percentage of those without PCP (57%) showed increasing titers of IgM antibodies to P. carinii in the second of paired samples taken about 6 months apart, compared with whose with PCP (9%; p = 0.05). All patients had high titers of antibodies to CMV and HSV and normal total concentrations of immunoglobulins. None of the patients responded in lymphocyte transformation to P. carinii, CMV, or HSV antigens. There is no obvious explanation to the selective lack of IgM antibodies to P. carinii in patients with PCP. Lack of IgM antibodies may be a marker for an immunodeficiency to P. carinii.

[1]  H. Andersen.  Complement-fixing and virus-neutralizing antibodies in cytomegalovirus infection as measured against homologous and heterologous antigen. , 2009, Acta pathologica et microbiologica Scandinavica. Section B: Microbiology and immunology.

[2]  C. Petersen,et al.  Lymphocyte transformation response to pokeweed mitogen as a predictive marker for development of AIDS and AIDS related symptoms in homosexual men with HIV antibodies. , 1987, British medical journal.

[3]  J. Nielsen,et al.  Humoral responses to Pneumocystis carinii in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and in immunocompromised homosexual men. , 1985, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[4]  J. Nielsen,et al.  Immunological Studies in Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome , 1985, Scandinavian journal of immunology.

[5]  T. Furuta,et al.  Cellular and humoral immune responses of mice subclinically infected with Pneumocystis carinii , 1985, Infection and immunity.

[6]  J. Murray,et al.  Pulmonary complications of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Report of a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute workshop. , 1984, The New England journal of medicine.

[7]  A. Fauci,et al.  Abnormalities of B-cell activation and immunoregulation in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. , 1983, The New England journal of medicine.

[8]  B. Pedersen,et al.  Effect of tunicamycin on the synthesis of herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoproteins and their expression on the cell surface , 1982, Journal of virology.

[9]  P. Walzer,et al.  Comparison of rat, mouse, and human Pneumocystis carinii by immunofluorescence. , 1980, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[10]  J. Winkelstein,et al.  Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia as the presenting infection in congenital hypogammaglobulinemia. , 1979, The Journal of pediatrics.

[11]  W. Hughes,et al.  Pneumocystis carinii infection: evidence for high prevalence in normal and immunosuppressed children. , 1978, Pediatrics.

[12]  Frenkel Jk.  Pneumocystis jiroveci n. sp. from man: morphology, physiology, and immunology in relation to pathology. , 1976 .