[CURRENT TRENDS IN THE PREVENTION, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF RHEUMATIC FEVER AND RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE (REVIEW)].

The purpose of the work is to analyze the evolution of the clinical course, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and chronic rheumatic heart disease (RHD), antibiotic therapy of streptococcal infection, using modern analysis of modern literature and our own observations. Diagnostic criteria for the disease were revised. Improving the capabilities of echocardiography can improve the prognosis of the disease through the early use of treatment and prevention.

[ORGAN-SPECIFIC AND ORGAN-NONESPECIFIC AUTOANTIBODIES AND DAMAGE OF ORGANS AND SYSTEMS AT SJOGREN'S SYNDROME].

The aim of the study was to determine the presence of various organ-specific and organ - nonspecific autoantibodies and their association with Sjogren's syndrome - one of the most pervasive autoimmune disorders that affects entire body. The etiology of Sjogren's syndrome is not clearly understood. It may be due combination of factors: inherited, hormonal, infection from virus.

New approaches for the detection and characterization of alpha-fetoprotein epitope variants.

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is an embryo-specific protein of mammalian sera that consists of a single glycosylated polypeptide chain (approximately 70 kD) with 5-6 epitope clusters located on the native molecule. We have elaborated three approaches for the separation of AFP into fractions (variants) that are different in the distinct epitope expression on the native molecule. For this, we have used three technologies largely based on immunoaffinity electrochromatography and electrophoresis/immunoblotting.

Epitope mapping of human alpha-fetoprotein.

The epitope structure of human alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was studied using more than 50 monoclonal antibodies (MAB) to human AFP. These MAB obtained from various world laboratories of the TD-2 AFP Workshops of the International Society for Oncodevelopmental Biology and Medicine (ISOBM-1996-1998-2000) were analyzed by competitive immunoaffinity electrochromatography (IAE) on nitrocellulose membranes (NCM). Five types of interaction of the AFP-MAB complex with the MAB fixed on NCM were found: 1) complete neutralization; 2) partial neutralization; 3) unidirectional neutralization; 4) enhanced binding; 5) lack of interaction.

Conformational variants of human alpha-fetoprotein.

The immunological heterogeneity of human alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was demonstrated using immunoaffinity electrochromatography on monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) to 3 non-cross-reacting epitopes of this protein. At least 4 subfractions expressing different epitopes were found in the native AFP. These subfractions demonstrated molecular weights similar to the major component of the original AFP.