Abstract
Guinea pigs genetically deficient in the second (C2) or fourth component of complement (C4) generally appear healthy in contrast to humans with a C2 or C4 deficiency. However, upon investigation of these genetic deficiencies in guinea pigs for signs of dysregulation in the humoral immune system and especially autoantibodies, many complement-deficient guinea pigs (greater than 50%) had elevated levels of serum IgM and higher concentrations of anti-hapten (dinitrophenyl) antibodies as signs of polyclonally stimulated antibody synthesis. In addition, a significant number of the complement-deficient animals, on average 30%, had IgM rheumatoid factors in their sera compared with less than 1% of the normal animals. These observations, therefore, indicate that guinea pigs, genetically deficient in C2 or C4, show characteristics of immune complex disease in general.
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