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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2000, p. 175-181, Vol. 7, No. 2
1071-412X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Anti-Idiotypic Antibodies in Patients with Different Clinical Forms of Paracoccidioidomycosis

A. R. Souza,1 J.-L. Gesztesi,1 G. M. B. del Negro,2 G. Benard,3 J. Sato,1 M. V. B. Santos,1 T. B. Abrahão,1 and J. D. Lopes1,*

Discipline of Immunology, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP),1 Laboratory of Medical Mycology, Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo,2 and Laboratory of Medical Investigation 56, São Paulo University Medical School,3 São Paulo Brazil

Received 2 June 1999/Returned for modification 30 September 1999/Accepted 24 November 1999

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is the most prevalent systemic mycosis in Latin America. Patients with PCM show a wide spectrum of clinical and pathological manifestations depending on both host and pathogen factors. Two clinical forms of the disease are recognized: the acute or juvenile form and the chronic or adult form. The major antigenic component of the parasite is a glycoprotein of 43 kDa (gp43). All patient sera present antibodies against gp43 (anti-gp43) and, as demonstrated before by our group, spontaneous anti-idiotypic (anti-Id) antibodies (Ab2) can be detected in patient sera with high titers of anti-gp43. Since it has been postulated that anti-Id antibodies may have a modulating function, we decided to purify and characterize anti-Id antibodies in this system. The possible correlation of Ab2 titers with different clinical forms of disease was also verified. Results showed that purified human anti-Id antibodies (human Ab2) recognized specifically the idiotype of some murine monoclonal anti-gp43 (17c and 3e) but not others (40.d7, 27a, and 8a). Spontaneous anti-Id antibodies were found in all clinical forms of disease. The majority of patients (88%, n = 8) with the acute form of PCM had high titers of Ab2. However, among patients with the multifocal chronic form of the disease, only 29% (n = 14) had high titers of Ab2; 70% (n = 10) of patients with the unifocal chronic form had low titers of Ab2. A correlation between Ab2 titers and anti-gp43 titers was observed before and during antimycotic treatment. Our results suggest that titers of anti-Id antibodies correlate with the severity of PCM in humans.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Disciplina de Imunologia, Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Rua Botucatu, 862, 4 Andar, CEP 04023-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Phone: 55 11 549 6073. Fax: 55 11 549 6073. E-mail: daniel.dmip{at}epm.br.


Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2000, p. 175-181, Vol. 7, No. 2
1071-412X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.