Immuno-electrophoretic Analysis of Proteins in Serum and Synovial Fluid in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis

Levels of serum immunoglobulins in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

“…The inconstant or absent accentuation of the precipitation line corresponding to yM fraction is noteworthy. In contrast with the observations of Cleve (1958), Mackiewicz andFenrych (1961,) Zanussi, Invernizzi, del Giacco, andLuporini (1961), Caronia, Martelli, and Pitucco (1962), and Sfikakis and Loukopoulos (1964), our results appear to agree with the data of Francq, Eyquem, Podliachouk, and Jacqueline (1959), Podliachouk, Francq, Eyquem, and Jacqueline (1960), Eyquem, Jacqueline, Podliachouk, and Francq (1960), and Fallet, Meyer, and Scheidegger (1961), who think that immuno-electrophoretic analysis of rheumatoid sera is not able to reveal a significant increase of yM. It may sometimes be possible to find a very marked increase of yM in sero-negative patients and in some healthy controls, but an increase of this fraction was not observed in sero-positive cases.…”

Hemolytic Complement in Synovial Fluid*

“…Recent studies have demonstrated that this property is the result of aggregation of gamma globulin molecules (33,34). Several workers have suggested that the proteins of synovial fluid are derived from serum and are identical to the serum proteins when studied by immunoelectrophoresis (35,36). The gamma globulin concentrations in the synovial fluids from gout, Reiter's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis were similar and did not account for the difference in complement titers in these diseases.…”

Serum immunoglobulin and beta 1C-beta 1A globulin concentrations in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

“…These authors postulated that the increase in serum IgG in rheumatoid arthritis was due to the presence of constant antigenic stimulation. In contrast, Mackiewicz and Fenrych (1961) found elevated IgM values in most of their cases of rheumatoid arthritis. Cassidy and Burt (1967) reported selective IgA deficiency in their patients with JRA apart from the known increased incidence of arthritis in classical forms of hypoand dysgammaglobulinaemia.…”

“…Alterations in the type and concentration of serum immunoglobulins in patients with rheumatoid arthritis have been reported by several authors (Mackiewicz and Fenrych, 1961;Cassidy and Burt, 1967;Veys and Claessens, 1968;Houba and Bardfeld, 1969). So, too, the complement activity of serum and synovial fluid in rheumatoid arthritis has recently been studied in adults and to a lesser extent in children (Muller and Muller-von Voigt, 1968;Wasastjerna and Ekelund, 1969;Weinstein, Peters, Brown, and Bluestone, 1972).…”