Immune Complexes and the Lung: A Skeptical Review

New Concepts in the Pathogenesis of Immune Lung Injury

“…Initiation of lung injury by antibodies deserves special mention because, after early enthusiasm 169 followed by skepticism, 170 it is again attracting attention. Antibodies can initiate lung injury either directly by reacting with lung tissues or indirectly when trapped as immune complexes containing exogenous antigens.…”

Unifying concepts underlying the effects of organic dust exposures

“…Thus, the pathogenetic mechanisms appear to require participation of antigenspecific inflammatory T cells and activated alveolar machrophages [Upadrashta et al, 1988]. Precipitating antibodies are markers of exposure and probably play little or no role in disease [Burrell and Rylander, 1981;Richerson, 1984]. The reason why only a relatively small number of causative agents (thermophilic actinomyces, certain mold spores, and bird proteins) are capable of causing disease may be the requirement for adjuvanticity as well as antigenicity.…”

Respiratorische Gesundheitsrisiken bei Arbeiten mit Hühnern1

“…, 23, 34] konnte kein Zusammenhang mit Symptomen festgestellt werden. Präzipitine müssen eher als Zeichen der Exposition angesehen werden und spielen wahrscheinlich eine geringe oder keine Rolle bei der Erkrankung[6,28].…”