RAISED AGALACTOSYL IGG AND ANTIMYCOBACTERIAL HUMORAL IMMUNITY IN TAKAYASUS-ARTERITIS

Objective. Takayasu's arteritis is an inflammatory occlusive disease o f the aorta and its main branches of unknown etiology. Some suggested causes include inapparent infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, o r autoimmunity evoked by this organism. We have therefore sought links with mycobacterial disease. Methods. We assayed the % agalactosyl IgG , antibody to a tuberculosis-specific 38 kDa protein, and antibody to the mycobacterial 65 kDa heat shock protein (HSP), in patients with ac tive or inactive Takayasu's arteritis, in whom the diagnosis of tuberc ulosis was excluded. The results were compared with findings in tuberc ulosis (positive controls,) normal donors and patients with Wegener's granulomatosis. Results. The % agalactosyl IgG in patients with active arteritis was in the range previously seen only in rheumatoid arthrit is, Crohn's disease, and mycobacterioses. Similarly, significantly rai sed antibody to the purified 38-kDa protein of M. tuberculosis, and to the 65-kDa HSP of M. leprae, was found in 78% of patients with Takaya su's arteritis, and the levels were higher in those with active diseas e. Conclusion. These results suggest that Takayasu's arteritis particu larly clearly illustrates the occasional relationship between mycobact eria and diseases of superficially autoimmune pathogenesis.