Human parvovirus B19 infection associated with severe acute perimyocarditis in a 34-year-old man

Induction of the anti-ergotypic response.

The injection of syngeneic activated T cells into rodents can induce a T cell response against activation markers of the T cells, ergotopes. The responding anti-ergotypic T cells have been shown to suppress experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). This paper reports the characteristics of the anti-ergotypic response. It was found that irradiated activated T cells were as good as untreated living activated T cells in inducing anti-ergotypic cells in vivo. Glutardialdehyde-fixed (0.3%) cells were poor stimulators in vivo and non-stimulatory in vitro. Dilution of glutardialdehyde to 0.003% before fixation preserved the stimulatory capacity in vitro. Fixation or irradiation of T cells a…

Cellular and humoral immunity to the 60-kD heat shock protein in inflammatory bowel disease.

Background: Mycobacteria have been considered a possible etiological agent in Crohn’s disease. Since cross-reactivity between epitopes of mycobacterial and self-heat shock protein might represent a potential disease mechanism, we determined the cellular and humoral immune responses to the mycobacterial and the human 60-kD heat shock protein, as well as various control antigens. Methods: We studied samples from 19 patients with Crohn’s disease, 12 patients with ulcerative colitis, and from 19 healthy individuals. T cell responses were studied using a standard proliferation assays to purified recombinant mycobacterial and human 60-kD heat shock protein. Antibody levels were measured by establ…