The circulating antibody in pulmonary aspergilloma

Abstract

The filtrate of fluid medium inoculated with Aspergillus fumigatus and cultured at 37°C for 3 weeks was dialysis with water and freeze-dried and yellowish brown powder was attained.
The original dilution of the antigen, 100 mg/ml dilution of the powder, and its 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 times dilution were used as the antigen and double diffusion test in agar Bell and immunoelectrophoresis were performed with the serum of patients with pulmonary aspergillosis, tuberculosis and other misceraneous diseases in internal medicine. In 14 cases of pulmonary aspergilloma, precipitin was demonstrated in 13 cases.
In tuberculosis, patients with cavity had the precipitin in 5 cases of 55 cases, whereas, those without cavity in none out of 22 cases. None of the 240 cases of miscellaneous diseases had the antibody.
The antibody was completely removed from the serum of aspergilloma patients to neutrophils of patients with various disease and calculating the cells fed with Aspergillus spores.
The serum acceralated the rate of phagocytosis of neutrophils in the diseases. After absorption the opsonic activity was also lost.
In six cases of aspergilloma, the antibody fraction belongs to IGA and IGG.
It is concluded that the precipitin test is useful for the diagnosis of pulmonary aspergillosis and the prevalence of mycosis in leukemia is largely due to the lack of phagocytic activity of the leucocytes, which is acceraleted by the antibody.