Humoral Immunity of Each Subgroup in Behcet's Syndrome

Bang, Dong Sik; Whang, Kyu Kwang; Kim, Duck Hyun; Lee, Sung Nack; Choi, In Joon

Abstract

Various immunologic studies were performed for the investigation of humoral immunity in 30 patients with Behcet's syndrome who had been registered in Behcet Special Clinic of Severance Hospital: direct immunofluorescent staining, quantitation of serurn Ig, complement by immunoelectrophoresis and B-cell by EAC-rosette method. The results can be summerized as follows: 1. Direct immunofluorescent staining occurs in biopsies from patients with Behcets syndrome: 11 of the 30 patients(36. 7%). Among them, vascular fluorescene with C3 was noted in 10 of 11 patients (90. 9%), in addition of IgG, IgA, IgM, and fibrinogen on dermoepidermal junction or vessel. 2. The results of direct immunofluorescence staining showed different tendency according to biopsy sites and clinical types: 5 of 10(50%,) in the specimens from oral mucosa, 5 of 13(38.5%) from leg, 1 of 3(33.3%,) from genitalia, and 0 of 7(0%) from other sites: higher in complete and incomplete types than in suspected and possible types. 3. Immunofluorescent staining rates were statistically not significant according to sex, age and Lehner's classification. 4. Serum IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, C4 and B-cell were statistically not significant between DIF positive and negative groups. Therefore it is considered that vascular deposits of immune complexes and activation of complements by immune omplexes may be a role of pathogenetic mechanisms of Behcet's syndrorne.