Quantitation of secretory immunoglobulin A in chronic pulmonary disease.

Abstract

The occurrence of secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA) in chronic pulmonary disease was investigated. The quantitative aspects of the problem were studied by means of a new procedure, electroimmunodiffusion, which was found to be a rapid and efficient method for estimating IgA concentration in saliva and was used to establish normal values for salivary IgA. In patients with chronic pulmonary disease, high serum IgA concentrations were found to correlate with high salivary IgA concentrations. Cigarette smoking was found to have a suppressive action on secretory IgA production in normal subjects, but not in subjects with chronic respiratory disorders. Lung-reactive antibodies were detected in a number of serum specimens, but the occurrence of lung-reactive antibodies did not correlate with the concentration of either serum or secretory IgA in subjects with pulmonary diseases. Specific antibody activity to influenza PR-8 virus was demonstrated in saliva, confirming that the secretory IgA in these patients was a ...