ANTIBODIES AGAINST ENTEROVIRUSES IN INTRAVENOUS IG PREPARATIONS - GREAT VARIATION IN TITERS AND POOR CORRELATION WITH THE INCIDENCE OF CIRCULATING SEROTYPES

Antibody titres in immunoglobulin preparations for intravenous use wer e tested against 24 different enterovirus serotypes and varied between 1 : 100 and 1 : 10,000 within a single batch. Differences up to 8-fol d were found for homologous titres between two different batches that were prepared 6 years apart. The lowest titre obtained was 1 : 40. The observed differences within and between the two batches could not be explained by different incidence of serotypes of enteroviruses circula ting at the time blood was collected. Differences in titres of up to 1 8-fold were observed when several strains of the same serotype were te sted suggesting that intratypic variation influences antibody titres. It is concluded that immunoglobulin preparations contain antibodies ag ainst many enteroviruses, but that titres can be low and cannot be pre dicted from the incidence of any particular serotype circulating in th e community. Because of intratypic variation, selection of a batch for specific treatment should be based on results obtained with the patie nt's own isolate, and not with a reference strain. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss , Inc.