The determination of specific IgA-antibodies to Yersinia enterocolitica and their role in enteric infections and their complications

Specific serum IgA-antibodies, mainly produced in the lymphoid tissue of the gastrointestinal tract (GALT) might exhibit some special characteristics deviating from IgM- and IgG-antibodies: they do not agglutinate nor fix complement. They cannot be determined by usual routine antibody techniques; indirect methods must be used. An antiglobulin-assay was used in an extensive investigation over a two-year period on sera from 8,445 patients to determine IgA-antibodies specific to Yersinia enterocolitica, serotype 3. Y. enterocolitica agglutinins were found in 965 patients, 508 of them with significant titres of greater than or equal to 80. 347 of the 2,111 patients with low titres (10 to 40) had a significantly elevated amount of IgA antibodies. The diagnoses of the IgA-positive patients fell into three groups: acute infections, acute reactive complicatory inflammations, mainly arthritis, chronic inflammatory connective tissue diseases. The IgA-antibody pattern was: In early samples from patients with acute enteric infections they might be the only antibodies present following, largely, during the course of the disease the agglutinating IgM and IgG antibodies, except in patients with long-lasting or chronic complications where IgA antibodies were elevated. It is concluded that determination of specific antibodies of IgA class in cases of Y. enterocolitica infections is an important diagnostic test and, moreover, of prognostic value in the evaluation of chronicity.

The prevalence of antibodies to hemolytic Streptococci and Yersinia enterocolitica in Danish school children and among hospitalized patients

Serological investigations in infections caused by hemolytic streptococci and by Yersinia enterocolitica (Y. ent.) can be diagnostically decisive. Here are presented the results of 2 extensive serologic investigations of a population of school children (n = 929) and of hospitalized patients (n = 2121). It is shown that only very high titers of streptococcal antibodies were of diagnostic value in single samples as most other titers had the same distribution and frequency in the healthy population. Titers of antibodies to Y. ent. were elevated 5 times more often in the hospital patients than in the healthy population. Antibodies to Y. ent. were approximately at the same level in all age groups in contrast to the streptococcal antibodies, which decreased with age. In about 4% of the 2121 patients investigated elevated antibody titers to both bacteria were found simultaneously. The differential diagnosis may be difficult in such cases especially if they exhibit symptoms of rheumatic fever.

Microfilaments interacting with heavy meromyosin and deoxyribonuclease I in cells of the ovarian follicle of a lizard

Two types of filaments (microfilaments 4--6 nm in diameter, and intermediate filaments 7--10 nm in diameter) are common in the surface epithelial cells and theca fibroblasts of vitellogenic ovarian follicles of the lizard Anolis carolinensis. Heavy meromyosin (HMM), which forms complexes with actin filaments, interacts only with the microfilaments of theca fibroblasts. After myosin extraction of follicles no filaments disappeared, but when this treatment was followed by incubation with deoxyribonuclease I (DNA-ase I), which depolymerizes F-actin to G-actin, microfilaments disappeared from the theca fibroblasts. It is concluded that microfilaments in theca fibroblasts are actin-like and may contract to provide the mechanism of expulsion for the oocyte during ovulation. The intermediate filaments of the surface epithelial cells and theca fibroblasts may serve as a skeletal system for the large (up to 8 mm in diameter) vitellogenic follicle.

Yersinia enterocolitica infections and rheumatic diseases

Yersinia enterocolitica (Y. ent.) infections are rather frequently complicated by acute reactive inflammation in the connective tissue, especially in the joints. At this stage of the disease the specific diagnosis can be obtained either by bacterial isolation and identification from the feces and/or mesenterial lymph nodes, or by serological methods. Serodiagnostics are frequently the only method during the complication phase, since the bacteria have often disappeared from the feces by this stage of the disease. Specific Y. ent. serodiagnostics are benefitted by the fact that no antisera cross-react with the serotype 3 thermostable O-antigen. A titre of greater than or equal to 80 is therefore highly indicative of a recent or current Y. ent. infection. In the absence of other known arthritogenic agents the Y. ent. antibodies are highly indicative of the Y. ent. etiology of a current disease. The Y. ent. complications affect most inflammatory reactive diseases, acute as well as chronic. In an area in which Y. ent. infections are endemic, Y. ent. is the most frequent cause of acute and chronic arthritis. The present results indicate that not all cases of acute Y. ent. arthritis remit, but some persist, usually with an intermittent course, and develop into rheumatoid arthritis or allied conditions. This suggests a common pathogenic mechanism in most inflammatory rheumatic diseases. It is proposed that the time has come for a classification of these diseases based on their etiology, in order to replace the present symptom-based treatment with a causal one, and to institute prophylactic measures. The pathology is not exclusive to Y. ent., but can presumably also be brought about by other bacteria, such as gonococci, meningococci, salmonellae, shigellae, and brucellae, possibly by their content of lipopolysaccharide.

Oocyte-follicle cell relationships in a starfish

The follicle cells which surround the oocytes of starfish are known to both release the hormone 1-methyladenine and to respond to it by an active movement which forms a component of the spawning response to the hormone. In Patiria miniata these flagellated cells are located peripheral to the oocyte and have long cytoplasmic processes which penetrate the vitelline layer to the egg surface to form an adhering zonule-like junction. Within the follicle cell cytoplasm are located elongate filamentous bands which appear to represent a component of the contractile mechanism that mediates follicle cell response to 1-methyladenine. These bands do not resemble the filaments of vertebrate smooth muscle cells (quantity, distribution and size of filaments; lack of dense bodies in the filament mass), nor the contractile units of the superficial epithelium of lower vertebrate follicles.

Yersinia enterocolitica infection and sarcoidosis. A report of seven cases

Sarcoidosis of recent onset was diagnosed during a Yersinia enterocolitica infection in seven patients at the Copenhagen County Hospitals during a 3 1/2 year period. In all cases the diagnosis was made from clinical symptoms and confirmed by chest X-ray and biopsy. In five of the patients a fourfold rise or decrease was measured in the antibody titre against Yersinia enterocolitica, serotype 3, confirming an acute infection. In another two patients this titre remained significantly elevated greater than or equal to 80, indicating chronic infection. Five patients experienced joint symptoms and four erythema nodosum, symptoms common to both yersiniosis and sarcoidosis. A follow-up examination 14 to 41 months after the debut of sarcoidosis showed total remission (including chest X-ray and respiratory function) in five of the seven patients. Recent research has shown that Yersinia enterocolitica following the early stage of the infection causes granulomatous lesions in lymph follicles, and this aetiology should thus be considered as a differential diagnosis to sarcoidosis.

Cell-mediated immunity of Yersinia enterocolitica serotype 3 in patients with thyroid diseases

The cellular immunity to Yersinia enterocolitica serotype 3 and crude human thyroid extract in 64 patients with thyroid diseases and 25 controls was studied by the leucocyte migration test. In the patient group as a whole and in patients with Graves' disease and nontoxic diffuse goitre a significantly reduced leucocyte migration towards Yersinia was found when compared with the controls. In controls the migration index was not related to the presence or titre of circulating yersinia antibodies, whereas the migration index of patients with yersinia antibodies was lower than the migration index of patients without yersinia antibodies as well as that of the controls. The leucocyte migration inhibition in two patients with recent yersinosis was normal during the recovery phase. In the presence of thyroid extract leucocyte migration inhibition differed only significantly in Graves' disease. However, a significantly positive correlation between inhibition of migration by thyroid extract and by Yersinia was found, while no correlation could be demonstrated in the controls. The cell-mediated immunity towards Yersinia in thyroid diseases thus demonstrated adds further evidence to the association between Yersinia and thyroid disease.

HLA antigens in Graves' disease

HLA typing of 86 patients with Graves' disease was performed for the A, B, C and D series antigens. An increased frequency of HLA-B8 (47 per cent) and Dw3 (51 per cent) compared with controls (23.7 and 21 per cent, respectively) was observed. The increase of B8 and Dw3 was almost exclusively found in a group of 48 patients with relapse of disease, whereas the frequency of B8 and Dw3 in patients without relapse did not differ significantly from that of the control group. No association with the presence of exophthalmos, thyroid antibodies, or antibodies to Yersinia enterocolitica serotype 3 could be found.

Structure and function of the amphibian follicular epithelium during ovulation

Low concentrations of cytochalasin B (CCB) are known to inhibit ovulation in the frog, Hyla regilla. Examination of amphibian thecal cell ultrastructure reveals filaments (average diameter 71 A) arranged in bundles parallel to the surface of the oocyte. These filaments are often associated with hemidesmosome-like plaques on the basal plasmalemma, While individual filaments appear unaltered morphologically by CCB (1-5 microgram/ml), their organization into bundles, apparent relationship to the hemidesmosomes, and the highly contorted configuration of the thecal cells after oocyte expulsion, suggest that a nonmuscular contractile system residing within the follicle plays a fundamental role in ovulation. Our data suggest that the flattened epitheloid thecal cells shorten all axes that run parallel to the oocyte surface via filament bundle contractions, while they remain tightly bound together by macular attachment plaques. These cells thus increase in height to become cuboidal-low columnar in shape; the area covered by the base of each is greatly reduced. As this "thecal sac" decreases in size, the compression generated by the contractile mechanism forces the oocyte through the enzymatically weakened apex of the follicle and ovulation results.

Yersinia enterocolitica infection and thyroid diseases

The frequency of agglutinating antibodies to Yersinia enterocolitica (Y. ent.) serotype 3 and 9 has been studied in sera from patients with various thyroid diseases. No antibodies to Y. ent. serotype 9 were found. Titres (≧ 10) of Y. ent. serotype 3 antibodies were found significantly more frequently in thyroid patients than in controls. In patients with Graves' disease the frequency was 59.5 per cent compared with 16.6 and 27.7 % in the two control groups (P < 0.0005). High titres (≧ 80) were significantly increased in patients with Graves' disease and diffuse nontoxic goitre when compared with the control groups. The prevalence of Y. ent. antibodies decreased with the duration of the disease. In patients with recurrent Graves' disease high titres of Y. ent. antibodies were found in 25 per cent compared with 11 per cent in patients with the first attack of Graves' disease (P < 0.05).

No correlation with age, sex, exophthalmos or the presence of antibodies to thyroid antigens was found. As the O antigen of Y. ent. serotype 3 is specific the detection of these antibodies suggest an infection with Y. ent. and possibly an association between this infection and thyroid disorders, in particular Graves' disease.