Differential Agglutination of Normal and Sensitized Sheep Erythrocytes by Sera of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Abstract
When fresh, heat-inactivated human sera are tested for their ability to agglutinate both normal sheep erythrocytes and sheep erythrocytes "sensitized" by their exposure to small amts. of rabbit anti-sheep serum, the sensitized erythrocytes are almost always agglutinated to a higher titer than are the nor-mal erythrocytes. With the sera of patients suffering from rheumatic fever, various arthritic disorders other than rheumatic arthritis, and diseases unassociated with joint involvement, the difference between the agglutination titers of normal and sensitized sheep erythrocytes has not been observed to exceed an algebraic difference of 16. In contrast, in active rheumatoid arthritis the differential titer is no lower than 16 and is usually considerably higher. Some of the features of this serological phenomenon are discussed, together with its possible practical applications.

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