IMMUNOLOGIC STUDIES OF HEART TISSUE

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Abstract
Blood group substances A and B were found distributed in capillary walls, vascular endothelium, and interstitial connective tissue. Isoimmune reactions against tissue blood group substances A and B were noted infrequently in random sera, presumably due to limited sensitivity of fluorescent antibody methods. Heart tissue from blood group O individuals was used for screening of pathologic sera for presence of heart-reactive factors. Wassermann antibody was found reactive with constituents of myocardial sarco-plasm, of which the major reactant was cardiolipin. Sera of patients with rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, disseminated lupus, and liver disease frequently showed a marked reactivity with constituents of myofiber sarcoplasm, distinct from cardiolipin, which were extractable with ethanol and methanol but not by acetone. Such sera frequently gave positive flocculation and complement-fixation tests with alcohol extracts of human heart. Sarcoplasmic-reactive factors were associated in some sera with 19S gamma globulin. Serologic reactions with homologous or autologous heart were observed frequently with sera from rheumatic patients approximatley 2 weeks following cardiac surgery, as well as in some non-rheumatic patients following cardiac or thoracic surgery or acute myocardial infarction. The pathogenetic significance of these presumptive auto antibodies to heart is unknown. As yet, no definitive conclusions may be drawn regarding their relationship to bound gamma globulin in rheumatic hearts or to the postcardiotomy and post-infarction syndromes.