Cold Activation of the Classical Complement Pathway found in the Patients with Chronic Liver Diseases

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Abstract
Serum CH50 of 8 of 61 tested patients with chronic liver diseases were extremely low whereas CH50 of EDTA- or heparin-plasma were within the normal range. Serum and plasma complement profiles of these patients showed that hemolytic activities of C4 and C2 in serum were significantly lower than those in plasma. When venous blood was obtained from the patient and clotted at different temperatures for 3 hr, C4 activity of serum separated at 37°C was as high as that of EDTA-plasma but C4 activity of the serum separated at 21°C or 4°C was extremely decreased. Also it was found that when patient serum was incubated with the serum of a normal subject, C4 activity in normal serum was decreased at 4°C, but the inactivation was inhibited in the presence of EDTA or heparin or when incubation was carried at 37°C. These results indicated that low serum CH50 found in some of our patients with chronic liver diseases might be due to the cold activation of the classical complement pathway in vitro.

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