J. Jonsson

IMMUNOLOGICAL REACTIONS AFTER IRRADIATION OF THE UTERUS.

Antibodies to the mucosa of the portio and uterus were studied in 80 patients before and after intensive local irradiation by intracavitary application of radium. In addition, an examination was made of 30 apparently healthy women of the same age groups, who had not been submitted to irradiation. Antibodies to a cell line derived from a malignant uterine tumour were also examined in the sera from the patients, as were antibodies to thyroid cytoplasmic antigen, thyroglobulin, bovine gamma globulin, parietal cells and cell nuclei. Antibodies to the uterine tissues were observed before irradiation in some patients and also in some of the healthy controls. After intensive local irradiation there was a significant increase in antibodies to the epithelial cells of the portio and to the cervical gland cells. This increase would seem to be limited to antibodies to the irradiated tissue, since no increase in antibodies to any of various other tissues studied was observed.

Thyroid Antibodies in Euthyroid Subjects after Iodine-131 Therapy

established that irradiation of an organ can elicit an increase in the antibodies against this organ. The conditions for the formation of antibodies to cytoplasmic antigen are particularly favorable in hyperthyroidism, for the thyroid gland is then rich in such antigen and circulating antibodies are often present even in the case of the untreated disease. A general immunological hyperactivity has, moreover, been observed in the thyroxine-fed guinea pig (4). The investigation reported below was performed to examine whether, in the absence of hyperthyroidism, there is any increase in the thyroid auto-antibodies after radioiodine therapy. In earlier studies on hyperthyroidism, an increase in the antibodies to thyroid epithelial cytoplasm was found 2 to 12 months after radioiodine therapy (3). We have now studied in euthyroid subjects also the situation during the first 2 months after treatment. To examine the possibility of nonspecific serological reactions at low titers, the same tests for thyroid antibodies were performed after intensive irradiation of other organs than the thyroid gland. MATERIAL

Organ Antibodies After Local Irradiation

Radioiodine treatment for hyperthyroidism is followed by an increase in the thyroid humoral antibodies (2). This increase is temporary (3, 11, 16), lasting about one year, after which there is a gradual drop to below the pretherapy values (3). The increase is due to the radiotherapy, since it is not found after other forms of treatment for hyperthyroidism, such as subtotal thyroidectomy (3, 7). The rise in humoral thyroid antibodies after radioiodine therapy has also been observed in euthyroid patients (4). The question is whether this increase in thyroid antibodies is a manifestation of a general nonspecific increase in the humoral antibodies or a sign of a specific immunologic reaction directed only against the irradiated tissue. It should be possible to decide which of these two explanations is the correct one if it were known whether radioiodine therapy produces an increase in antibodies also against other tissues than the thyroid and whether there is an increase in the thyroid antibodies also after i...

Stimulation of Organ Specific and Non‐organ Specific Antigens on the Surface of Thyroid Cells by Phytohaemagglutinin P

Human thyroid primary, secondary and tertiary monolayer cultures with a low concentration of organ and non‐organ specific antigens on the surface of their cells were incubated with different does of phytohaemagglutinin P (PHA). PHA concentrations of 100–500 μg/ml of culture fluid were found to stimulate the appearance of organ‐specific and some not specified non‐organ‐specific antigens that were not demonstrable in unstimulated cultures. The effect was demonstrated with the mixed haemadsorption radial diffusion disc test (MHT) with the mixed haemadsorption isotope test, and with indirect immunofluorescence tests on monolayer cultures grown on cover slips and on suspensions of cells dispersed from monolayer cultures. Whether the stimulatory effect is due to a stimulation of some restricted cell functions or merely to a general stimulation of the cell metabolism that is known to occur, remains to be investigated.