The use of hemolysis-in-gel assays to study polyclonal antibody secretion in bone marrow transplant recipients

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Abstract
Polyclonal antibody secretion was measured as direct plaque-forming cells (PFC) against fluorescein isothiocyanate coupled sheep red blood cells (FITC-SRBC) or in an indirect assay using protein A coupled SRBC and anti-sera against human IgG. IgA, and IgM. Eighty individuals who were recipients of bone marrow transplants and 66 healthy controls were studied. Lymphocytes from patients studied during the first three months (short-term patients) had deficient B-cell function in both assays compared to normals. In healthy controls the direct assay only detected about 4% of the IgM producing B cells found in the indirect assay. PFC in long-term patients were not different from that of controls except for patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) who had a deficient IgM production. Patients with acute GVHD had unusual high numbers of IgG PFC afterStaph. aureus activation (ppStaph. aureus activation. PFC assays performed in three patients with grafts from HLA-nonidentical donors showed an increase in the background cultures for IgG PFC (pStaph. aureus stimulation (pStaph. aureus-Aktivierung.