SERUM IGE CONCENTRATION AND OTHER IMMUNE MANIFESTATIONS OF TREATMENT WITH GOLD SALTS ARE LINKED TO THE MHC AND IL4 REGIONS IN THE RAT

A subset of patients with rheumatoid arthritis occasionally develops s kin reactions and glomerulonephritis and exhibits an increase in serum IgE concentration when treated with gold salts. Brown-Norway (BN) rat s injected with aurothiopropanolsulfonate (ATPS) also manifest an auto immune glomerulonephritis and increased serum IgE concentration, where as Lewis (LEW) rats are resistant to complications. Here, we show link age between responses to ATPS in a (BN X LEW) F2 cohort and the major histocompatibility complex (RT1) on rat chromosome 20 and between mark ers in the region of IL4 and other candidate genes on rat chromosome 1 0. Recently, human serum IgE concentration has been reported to be lin ked to the IL-4 region. Taken together, these findings raise the possi bility that homologous genes could be implicated in ATPS manifestation s in the rat and in the regulation of IgE levels in the human. (C) 199 6 Academic Press, Inc.