IMMUNOGLOBULIN-G SUBCLASS ANTIBODIES TO RUBELLA-VIRUS IN CHRONIC LIVER-DISEASE, ACUTE RUBELLA AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

Ten patients with chronic liver disease, seven healthy seropositive in dividuals with a remote history of rubella, and three patients with ac ute rubella were examined for serum levels of IgG subclasses and subcl ass antibodies against rubella virus structural proteins. One patient with AICAH had no detectable total or rubella specific IgG3 or IgG4. T he liver disease patients were hypergammaglobulinemic and had greatly raised IgG1 levels, Patients with acute rubella lacked antibodies to t he rubella virus E2 protein and showed no IgG4 antibody response. The liver disease patients showed a somewhat weaker IgG4 antibody response against the core (C) protein than healthy controls. However, differen ces are suggested within the subclasses in antibody reactivity against the individual rubella virus antigens. It is concluded that test syst ems that discriminate reactivities against individual antigens have to be used for characterization of viral antibody subclass profiles.