Prenatal diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. I. Prospective study of 51 pregnancies.

A prenatal diagnosis was performed in 51 pregnancies with a 1-in-4 risk of having a child with cystic fibrosis. The criteria for determining an affected fetus were based on the results of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) residual activity after inhibition by phenylalanine and by homoarginine, of total ALP activity, and of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGTP) activity in the amniotic fluid taken between 16 and 19 weeks of pregnancy. The chromosomal analysis of amniotic fluid cells showed trisomy 13 in one case which was excluded from the analysis of biochemical assays.

[The concept of protein profile].

From their own experience of the simultaneous immunonephelometry of eight serum proteins, the authors propose a definition of protein profile from the point of view both of laboratory technique and interpretation. The assay should be performed quickly and the results expressed diagrammatically in normalised values, in such a way that the relative variation in protein levels can be easily visualised. A protein profile should thus comprise a minimum of proteins to be measured, chosen according to protein physiopathology and the type of abnormality under investigation.

Human anti-cytomegalovirus (CMV) immunoglobulins secreted by EBV-transformed B-lymphocytes cell lines.

The in vitro production of human immunoglobulins against cytomegalovirus may have clinical potentials. The attempts to produce human monoclonal antibodies by somatic cell hybridization have been unsuccessful so far. Another approach is to establish B-lymphoblastoid cell lines secreting specific antibodies.

[Gammopathies with oligoclonal electrophoretic patterns. Incidence, immunochemical nature and association with neoplastic pathology].

Electrophoretic study of 680 cases of human sera containing monoclonal bands showed an oligoclonal pattern in 92 cases (13.5%). Immunoelectrophoretic analysis of 52 oligoclonal cases showed various patterns: polyclonal in 12 cases, monoclonal in 23 cases, monoclonal with associated Bence Jones proteinemia in four cases, and biclonal in only 13 cases.

[Decrease of the 3rd fraction of serum complement. Study in a hospital population of 13000 patients].

Patients with serum concentrations of C3 lower than 0.40 g/l among 13 000 patients in a general hospital seen over an 18 months period were studied. 95 cases were eligible for study.