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(B10.A x B10.S)F1 hybrid mice produce lower levels of anti-GL phi antibody than B10.S(9R) and B10.HTT mice. To determine whether this difference is due to a gene dose or a cis-trans effect, [B10.S(9R) x B10.S(8R)]F1 mice were immunized with GL phi. These mice carry one dose of the responder Ir gene alleles in the cis position whereas the recombinant B10.S(9R) and B10.HTT mice carry two doses of the relevant genes. Both (B10.A x B10.S) and [B10.S(9R) x B10.S(8R)] F1 mice produced comparably lower amounts of antibodies as compared to the recombinant strains. The data therefore demonstrate that gene dose and not cis-trans effect accounts for the differences between F1 and recombinant strains in their antibody response to GL phi controlled by complementary Ir genes.

The influence of PGI2 on the activity and on the inactivation of enzymes participating in blood coagulation (thrombin and Factor Xa) and fibrinolysis (plasmin) were investigated. According to the results PGI2 has no effect on the activity of Factor Xa and plasmin nor on the inactivation of these enzymes by antithrombin-III in the absence and presence of heparin at a concentration of PGI2 up to 400 micrograms/ml. An acceleration of the inactivation of thrombin by antithormbin-III was found in the presence of PGI2 within a concentration of 100-400 micrograms/ml without any effect on the heparin-accelerated inactivation of thrombin by antithrombin. We got similar results using clotting tests for the assay and the application of synthetic substrate for thrombin. This inactivation-accelerating effect of PGI2 on thrombin was only demonstratable at a concentration five magnitudes higher than that of the anti-aggregation effect on platelets.

Two new lymphocyte antigens, provisionally designated Qat-4 and Qat-5 have been identified with two different hybridoma-derived, monoclonal AKR antiC57BL/6 antibodies. These antigens are governed by genes located to the right (distal) end of the H-2 complex, within the Qa-2,3 region. Qat-4 and Qat-5 antigens which do not seem to be identical with Qa-2,3 or TL antigens are absent from Ig/ lymphocytes and thymocytes. They are only present on a fraction of peripheral T cells. Thus, Qat-4 is expressed on 70%, and Qat-5 on 30% of splenic and lymph node T cells, Qat-4 is also found on the majority of Ig- cells from athymic nude mice. These findings illustrate the complexity of the chromosome segment between the H-2D and Tla loci and they emphasize the role of major histocompatibility complex-associated genes for the differentiation of T cells into different subpopulations with possibly distinct immunologic functions.

Because of the central importance of the liver for the metabolism of estrogens and androgens the chronically ill liver per se represents an essential disturbing factor within the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis caused by the altered hepatic metabolism of the steroid hormones as well as the abnormal synthesis of steroid-hormone-binding proteins with changed free fractions of sex hormones. The question has been differently answered whether a chronic hepatic disease can also be the reason for disturbance on hypothalamic-pituitary and/or testicular level. Recent plasma determination of LH/FSH before and after LHRH and clomiphene, of sex hormones before and after HCG as well as unbound sex hormones in males with chronic hepatic diseases lead to the following conclusion. 1. Chronic liver disease (without idopathic hemochromatosis). Even sever chronic hepatic diseases are not accompanied by primary hypopituitarism. With regard to the impaired Leydig cells stimulation by HCG and the abnormal seminal fluid and testicular histology one can suppose a primary gonadal hypogonadism. However, an additional hypothalamic disturbance has to be considered. 2. Idiopathic hemochromatosis. Presumably in hemochromatosis a primary insufficiency of pituitary and/or testes can take place related to the general metabolic disturbances of this illness. The classic hypothesis of an exclusively primary lesion with secondary hypogonadism does not appear to be correct.

Sequential immunoprecipitation, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and peptide mapping analyses of B10A(3R), 35S-methionine-labeled, I-EC subregion products were performed. Evidence is presented here for the presence of two structurally homologous, but nonidentical, gene products of the I-EC subregion. These two Ia molecules are independently immunoprecipitable, identical in molecular size and charge, but differ by approximately equal to 20% in their peptides obtained by partial digestion with Staphylococcus aureus protease V8.

A case of acquired C1INH deficiency with angioedema is described. Fifteen cases are thus far recorded. The clinical syndrome of angioedema in these patients closely resembles hereditary angioedema (HAE). Most cases are associated with a paraprotein, cryoglobulin, or autoantibody, which presumably initiates C1 activation and C1 Inhibitor consumption. C1INH, C4 and C2 levels are low in acquired C1INH deficiency, as in HAE. A distinguishing feature is that C1 titers are very low in the acquired disease and only minimally depressed, if at all, in HAE. Most cases have appeared in patients with an underlying lymphoproliferative or autoimmune disease. Therapy is directed at the underlying disorder, but androgen therapy may be helpful in preventing attacks. Future potential therapeutic approaches are discussed.

To determine whether a correlation exists between the biochemical expression of hemochromatosis and the HLA genotype, we studied 174 family members of 32 persons with the disease. Persons who shared both HLA haplotypes with the proband (and presumably having two hemochromatosis alleles) differed significantly from those who shared only one haplotype (and presumably having one hemochromatosis allele) in terms of serum iron (P less than 0.001 for both sexes), unsaturated iron-binding capacity (P less than 0.01 for female and P less than 0.0001 for male subjects) and serum ferritin (P less than 0.0001 for female and P less than 0.00001 for male subjects). The only significant difference between relatives having one hemochromatosis allele and age and sex-matched controls was related to serum ferritin values in male subjects (P less than 0.05, despite considerable overlap). In our hands, serum ferritin was the best indicator of disordered iron metabolism and was elevated among most homozygous but among few heterozygous family members.

Previous studies have shown that hemochromatosis is an inherited, autosomal-recessive disease and that the gene is closely linked to the HLA locus on chromosome 6. We obtained a lod score for linkage of +9.8 for a recombination fraction of 0.0 and a gene frequency of 0.056, the frequency estimated in this population. We studied the phenotypic expression of the disease in 261 members of 10 pedigrees. In heterozygotes over 20 years of age, there was an intermediate increase in transferrin saturation and a limited increase in hepatic iron but no clinical manifestations. In male heterozygotes, the average amount of iron in the liver increased from about 0.2 to 1.3 g. Abnormal homozygotes accumulated iron progressively with time, with men accumulating about 18 g in the liver. All measurements of iron status were increased in abnormal homozygotes. Hemochromatosis is inherited as an autosomal-recessive disease, with partial biochemical expression in heterozygotes.