Dissertation

A study of the immunological mechanisms responsible for high-titred antibody production in healthy blood donors

Cuthbertson, Bruce

1982

Overview

Serological studies were performed to identify \"good antibody producers\" with antiviral antibodies at a titre suitable for inclusion in plasma pools dedicated to the production of specific antiviral immunoglobulin preparations. Donors with recent experience of specific viruses (recent illness or immunisation) were a good source of such antibodies and in follow-up of these donors, antibody levels usually fell until a plateau titre was reached which varied markedly from donor to donor. High titred donations could also be obtained by testing serum or plasma from donors chosen at random. The proportion of high titred donations varied markedly from virus to virus but these variations did not correlate with the overall prevalence of viral immunity (as defined by the possession of antibody at any titre), nor, apparently, did they relate to the prevalence of viral disease in the population at large. A long-term commitment to high levels of specific antibody production may be the mechanism which accounts for the majority of the positive donations detected by random donor screening. Healthy donors with more than one useful antibody were relatively rare, demonstrating that virus-specific regulatory mechanisms play a major role in determining each, individual antibody titre. That general mechanisms also play a major role was demonstrated by the increased prevalence of viral antibodies in two different categories of diseased individuals. The prevalence of antiviral antibodies did not show any strong correlations with total IgG levels or with any individual HLA type (although a correlation was found between the possession of the antigen Bwl5 and a lack of measles antibodies). Although viral persistence may be an important factor in determining viral antibody titres, an attempt to identify virus coded material in mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes gave entirely negative results. An in vitro test was used to observe the antibody forming cell (AFC) response of human lymphocytes upon stimulation with pokeweed mitogen. The AFC response varied markedly from donor to donor but this did not correlate with variations in viral antibody levels or with serum IgG concentrations. As an offshoot from this work, some interesting observations were made on the in vitro, immunoregulatory action of an immunoglobulin product of Scottish manufacture.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Immunology
• ISBN: 0355836491, 9780355836493