SUMMARY A case of transient nephrotic syndrome caused by secondary syphilis is described. A renal biopsy was performed revealing subepithelial hump-like electron-dense deposits and fusion of epithelial foot-processes. Complement Clq-binding-activity and anticomplementarity were demonstrated in the blood, indicating the presence of circulating immune complexes. This strongly suggests that circulating immune complexes are significant in the immunopathogenesis of syphilitic nephropathy.
Two different malignant tumours were transplanted prior to or after thymus grafts in nude mice, and the degree of immunological reconstitution was studied. All mice which rejected either of the tumour types had reconstitution as expressed by an excess of splenic plaque-forming cells. The level of response was dependent upon the age of the thymus graft and whether a tumour was transplanted or not. In contrast, the result of the phytohaemagglutinin stimulation assays of spleen cells were always subnormal in thymus-grafted as well as in thymus-plus tumour-transplanted mice.
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