Investigators have for many years been interested in the relation of the adrenal gland to antibody formation. Observations made in animals have frequently led to conflicting results. The effect of adrenalectomy on antibody titres has been studied and has been shown to be associated with an elevation (1-3), a depression (4), and no change (5-8). The effect of ACTH or cortisone on antibody levels in the acute experiment has resulted in an elevation (1, 5, 9-11), no change (8,12), and a depression (13). The effect of ACTH or cortisone on antibody levels in the chronic experiment has resulted in an elevation (9), a depression (14, 15) and no change (16,17 Individuals used in this study were from the hospital and clinic population of the Presbyterian Hospital. The patients used as controls were diagnosed as having peptic ulcer or arteriosclerotic heart disease. The five patients with adrenal insufficiency had the characteristic clinical and laboratory findings of Addison's disease. Desoxycorticosterone acetate was administered to four of the five patients during the test period. Although there is little evidence available in the literature, it has been shown that in animals DCA does not appear to influence antibody titres (10). The cortisone treated group were patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving 200 milligrams of the drug by mouth three times each week. Cortisone treatment was started at least two weeks before immunization and was continued throughout the test period. No other medications were given. As an additional control group, eight patients with untreated rheumatoid arthritis were included in this study.8 Following a preliminary bleeding, each of the subjects was given 0.08 milligrams each of types I and II pneumococcus polysaccharides subcutaneously. Post-immunization bleedings were obtained at two and four weeks. RESULTSAs can be seen from Table I, the 12 normal individuals exhibited responses similar to those observed by Heidelberger and associates (25, 26).C-antibody was present in all sera tested and there was no rise in the titres of C-antibody in spite of sizeable changes in antibody to the type-specific capsular polysaccharides. Pre-immunization antipolysaccharide titres were low or not detectable. Maximum antibody titres were usually achieved by two weeks after immunization. A good response to one antigen was not necessarily accompanied by a similar response to the other antigen.
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