MEASUREMENT OF CIRCULATING IMMUNE COMPLEXES BY POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL PRECIPITATION-COMPLEMENT CONSUMPTION TEST (PEG-CC) AND CLINICAL APPLICATION

Abstract

Polyethylene glycol precipitation-complement consumption test (PEG-CC) of Harkiss was simplified and applied to measurement of circulating immune complexes (CIC) in the sera of the patients. The concentration of more than 5 μg per ml of aggregated IgG can be detected by PEG-CC and about sensitivity, PEG-CC is equal to the radioimmunoassays which have been commonly used. Clinical studies showed that the normal range was less than 20 percent of PEG-CC and that high percentage of PEG-CC was found in SLE (mean is 37.0%), rheumatoid arthritis (43.9%), and hepatitis (63.9%), Relatively high percentage of PEG-CC was found in diabetes mellitus (29.9%), acuteglomerulonephritis (27.5%) and malignancies. PEG-CC was utilized for differential diagnosis of the diffuse lung diseases. Large quantity of CIC was found in the systemic immune diseases such as SLE, periarteritis nodosa and so on. Idiopathic pneumonitis, extrinsic allergic alveolitis and sarcoidosis with uveitis showed relatively high percentage.