Parietal Cell Autoantibodies Research Articles

Circulating Antibodies in Malignant Melanoma Patients

Sera from 46 patients with malignant melanoma (MM) in different clinical stages and from 25 healthy blood donors were studied by an indirect conventional immunofluorescent technique (IIT) and by an immunofluorescent complement-fixation test (ICFT). No specific and reliable serological reactivity could be demonstrated against autologous and homologous MM and other nonmalignant pigmented tissues. An increased incidence of diffused antinuclear (ANA; 41%) and cytoplasmic epidermal cell autoantibodies (A-CYT; 71%) was observed in the patients by IIT. Statistical evaluation of the results gave significant values in the chi 2 test in patients for ANA (chi 2 = 5.2061; p less than 0.05) and for A-CYT (chi 2 = 8.9176; p less than 0.01) versus age-matched controls. Thyroid microsomal, gastric parietal cell, smooth muscle and mitochondria autoantibodies were, respectively, detected in 4.3, 4.3, 4.3 and 0% of patients' sera.

544 FAMILIAL ATHYREOTIC HYPOTHYROIDISM IN TWO SIBLINGS

Familial athyreosis is a cause of hypothyroidism seen much less frequently than sporadic athyreosis or cryptothyroidism. The present report concerns a brother and sister, now age 22 and 14 years respectively, who appear to have little or no functioning thyroid tissue. In both patients diagnosis was made and treatment begun in early infancy. There are 3 other normal siblings, and there is no family history of thyroid disease. The boy was first seen at age 13 years, exhibiting short stature, retarded bone age, mental retardation and other signs of hypothyroidism. Thyroid scan with 100 μCi of 131I revealed no detectable uptake. Under treatment with 60 mg desiccated thyroid/day TSH was 4.7 μU/ml, T4 4.7 μg/dl and T3 162 ng/dl (N 110-230). In the girl treatment had been stopped 4 years before we first saw her at age 9 years. She was below the 3rd percentile in height, was mentally retarded and exhibited the Kocher-Debré-Sémélaigne pseudohypertrophy of muscles. Bone age was 4½ years. T4 by CPB was 1.3 μg/dl (N=3-7) and TSH 54 μU/ml (N<10). Thyroid scans using 5 μCi of 131I and later with 2.5 mCi of Tc-99m failed to demonstrate any evidence for functional thyroid tissue. Parietal cell autoantibody titer in serum was not elevated. It has been suggested that Tc-99m provides a more critical evaluation of athyreosis than does 131I. Unlike the syndrome of familial athyreosis with thyrotropin deficiency (Miyai et al., NEJM 285:1043, 1971), in the present syndrome thyrotropin feedback appears to be normal.

Reaction of human smooth muscle autoantibody with gastric parietal cells: a pitfall in the diagnosis of parietal cell autoantibody.

Thirteen smooth muscle antibody (SMA) sera obtained from patients with active chronic hepatitis were examined for immunofluorescence reactivity with gastric mucosal cells. Eight out of 13 sera stained the cytoplasm of gastric parietal cells in a pattern indistinguishable from that obtained with parietal cell autoantibody (PCA). The staining reaction was localised to parietal cells by the demonstration that the same cells stained with both SMA and PCA in double immunofluorescent tests. The SMA staining intensity for parietal cells was weaker than that for smooth muscle. Specificity of the staining reaction for actin was established by the observation that parietal cell staining by SMA was inhibition by serum absorption with skeletal muscle F-actin but not by a microsomal fraction derived from gastric mucosa.

Serum Gastrin and Atrophic Gastritis in Achlorhydric Patients with and without Pernicious Anemia

Forty-two patients with pernicious anemia (PA) and 35 patients with achlorhydria but without PA were investigated by means of serum gastrin determination and estimation of circulating parietal cell and thyroidal autoantibodies. In 38 of the 77 patients, gastroscopic and histopathological examinations of the antral and corpus mucosa were performed. The patient groups were similar with regard to distribution of high and normal serum gastrin levels, the frequencey of autoantibodies and antrum-sparing atrophic gastritis. In the present selection of patients, therefore, the achlorhydria group was supposed to represent a precursor state of the group with PA. A minor proportion of patients with severe atrophic gastritis of the antrum as well as of the corpus mucosa was found in the two groups.

Lymphocytotoxins and Pernicious Anemia

Abstract Sera from 60 patients with pernicious anemia were studied for the presence of lymphocytotoxins (LCT), blocking and binding autoantibodies to intrinsic factor, and gastric parietal cell autoantibody. LCT were found in 21 sera. Cytotoxic activity was detected at 15°C but not at 24°C and did not appear to have HL-A specificity. Autocytotoxins were present in four of eight patients tested. Blocking antibody to intrinsic factor was found in 34 sera, binding antibody in 14 sera, and parietal cell antibody in 48 sera. Sera from 14 patients contained all three types of autoantibodies, and 12 sera were void of these autoantibodies. Of the 14 sera with three types of autoantibodies, LCT were detected in ten; none of the 12 sera without autoantibodies showed cytotoxic activity. These studies suggest that LCT may reflect the degree of autoimmune derangement in pernicious anemia; alternatively, LCT may represent naturally occurring immunosuppressants.

The parietal cell heteroantibody in human sera: prevalence in a normal population and relationship to parietal cell autoantibody

This study reports reactions with gastric parietal cells of human and rat origin, of sera from the adult ‘normal’ population of Busselton, Western Australia (3492 sera) and from patients known to have autoimmune gastritis (43 sera). In the normal sera the prevalence of the ‘true’ autoantibody reactive with human gastric parietal cells was 4.8% and there was an age-related increase; the prevalence of heteroantibody reactive with only rat parietal cells was 3.1%, with no age-related increase. The sera of 43 patients with known pernicious anaemia or atrophic gastritis all reacted with human parietal cells. Two further patients in whom only heteroantibody was demonstrable were shown to have intact gastric function and structure. This study reports reactions with gastric parietal cells of human and rat origin, of sera from the adult ‘normal’ population of Busselton, Western Australia (3492 sera) and from patients known to have autoimmune gastritis (43 sera). In the normal sera the prevalence of the ‘true’ autoantibody reactive with human gastric parietal cells was 4.8% and there was an age-related increase; the prevalence of heteroantibody reactive with only rat parietal cells was 3.1%, with no age-related increase. The sera of 43 patients with known pernicious anaemia or atrophic gastritis all reacted with human parietal cells. Two further patients in whom only heteroantibody was demonstrable were shown to have intact gastric function and structure.

Gastric Secretory and Serologic Studies on Patients With Neoplastic and Immunologic Disorders

Two-hour gastric acid and intrinsic factor (IF) secretory capacity determinations after betazole hydrochloride stimulation were performed on 21 patients with multiple myeloma, 10 each with lymphoproliferative disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, extragastric cancer, and 40 controls, all less than 65 years old. One patient with multiple myeloma had pernicious anemia (PA); four patients with multiple myeloma had close relatives with PA, gastric carcinoma, or thyroid disease. Two other elderly patients had myeloma and atrophic gastritis. Two patients with lymphoproliferative disorders had severely impaired gastric secretion. Parietal cell, IF, and thyroid autoantibodies were not detected in serum from any of the patients.

Polycythemia Rubra Vera With Pernicious Anemia Some Observations on Vitamin B12 Metabolism

Abstract A patient with polycythemia rubra vera developed symptoms and signs of pernicious anemia three years after institution of therapy for the polycythemia. This is the first satisfactorily documented report of this sequence. Strict criteria utilized make both diagnoses unequivocal. Autoantibody studies, the first performed in such a patient, show the presence of parietal cell and intrinsic factor autoantibodies but no antibodies to other tissues. Vitamin B12 requirements have been excessive despite high or high normal serum levels and extreme marrow sensitivity to withdrawal of the Vitamin is evident in the presence of these high serum levels. Studies on Vitamin B12 binding proteins showed an elevation in α binding globulin with reversal of the α to β ratio. It is suggested that this protein is physiologically abnormal. The literature is briefly reviewed regarding the pathogenesis of the two disorders with the conclusion that their appearance in the one patient represents purely a chance phenomenon.

PERNICIOUS ANAEMIA AUTOANTIBODY TO GASTRIC PARIETAL CELLS: IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE TEST WITH RAT STOMACH.

Rat stomach provided an excellent substrate for immunofluorescence testing of gastric parietal cell autoantibodies in 65 human sera. The results of similar tests using human stomach corresponded closely in the 42 cases examined. The rat stomach had some advantage over human stomach in its ready availability in the fresh state, its occasional brighter staining reactions, and its avoidance of non-specific staining by the sandwich immunofluorescence technique.