Prevalence of circulating immunecomplexes and variations of complement fractions in HBV, HDV and HCV infections: statistical analysis and clinical correlations.

Increased levels of circulating immunecomplexes (CIC) have been demonstrated in the serum of patients with HBV infection and HDV superinfection. This finding appears to be correlated to the disease's activity. In this report serum levels of two fractions of CIC (CIC-Clq and CIC-C3d) were evaluated by ELISA method in a sample of 110 subjects with hepatitis infection (HBV, HCV, HDV).

[A case of Reiter syndrome in HIV infection].

The onset of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is often characterized by a variety of symptoms, with the involvement of several tissues and organs. In the present case a polyarthritic syndrome was the symptomatology at the onset. Clinical onset.

Hormonal pattern in women affected by rheumatoid arthritis.

Gonadal sex hormones may account for the sexual dimorphism in the immune response and for the greater incidence of autoimmune disease in females. We have previously reported the presence of progesterone (P) deficiency in female patients with thyroid and ovarian autoimmune disease. In this context, the hormonal profile in 9 women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in 9 age-matched ealthy women, were evaluated to verify the presence of a steroid hormone secretion impairment in a systemic autoimmune disease, further supporting our hypothesis of P deficiency involvement.

The lack of correlation between the positivity of anti-platelet antibodies and the presence of thrombocytopenia in course of HIV infection.

The presence of anti-platelet autoantibodies has been reported in many cases of HIV infection, but there is no accordance about their pathogenic role in the onset of thrombocytopenia in the patients studied. In the present study surface anti-platelet antibodies (PAIgG) and serum anti-platelet antibodies (sPAIgG) were assayed in a group of 135 HIV-infected patients (109 men, 26 women), in different clinical stages by using an immunofluorescence test (PSIFT). In order to investigate the possible correlation of the positivity of these autoantibodies and the onset of thrombocytopenia, some of these patients were controlled in a follow-up study, with two successful controls: 10 months (II control: 89 patients) and 20 months (III control: 59 patients) after the first time.

Antigenic modulation in retinoblastoma: a flow cytometric study.

Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to investigate antigenic expression and modulation during the cell cycle of Y-79 and WERI-Rb1 tissue cultured retinoblastoma cell lines using a polyclonal anti-Y-79 antibody and fluorescein conjugated lectins. Several Y-79 resting cell populations were identified by FCM analysis of antibody binding, while only a single population with uniform antigen expression was found to exist in the synthetic and mitotic phases. WERI-Rb1 cells bound antibody approximately equally in each phase of the cell cycle.