Cellular and Humoral Immune Responses to Vascular Components in Thromboangiitis Obliterans

Abstract

Cellular and humoral immune responses to vascular components were stud ied in 10 patients with thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO), including 3 in the mild stage of the disease and 7 in the active or severe stage. In this study the authors used the following vascular components: collagen Types I, III, IV, and V; elas tin ; and laminin. The cell-mediate reactivity (CMR) to these proteins was mea sured with an antigen-specific proliferation of peripheral mononuclear cells and evaluated by the stimulation index (SI), which is the ratio of thymidine incorpo ration in the presence and in the absence of antigen. The humoral immunologic response (HIR) to these vascular components was measured by an enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and evaluated by the optical density (OD) index, which is the ratio of optical density (OD) in the patients' serum to that in the healthy male controls' serum. The stimulation index of collagen Types I and IV was significantly higher in patients with TAO than in healthy controls (p < 0.02). CMR to collagen Type V, elastin, and laminin was high in patients with active or severe TAO as well. However, similar statistical differences in mild TAO did not exist in the CMR. The OD index in collagen Types I, IV, and V was statistically higher in the patients than in the healthy controls (p < 0.01).

These autoimmune epiphenomena to vascular components in TAO suggest that autoimmune mechanisms are related to vasculitis of TAO patients. When it is considered that CMR was found in active or severe TAO, but not in mild TAO, CMR does not seem to be the initiator of vasculitis. These differences in immune reactivities suggest that the autoimmune epiphenomena to the vascular components might be related to the exacerbation and perpetuation of TAO.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Numano F. , Sasazuki T. , Koyama T. , et al: HLA in Buerger's disease. Exp Clin Immunogenet 3:195-200, 1986.

Gulati S. , Singh KS , Saha K. , et al: Immunological studies in thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's disease). J Surg Res 27:287-293, 1979.

Adar R. , Papa MZ , Halpern Z. , et al: Cellular sensitivity to collagen in thromboangiitis obliterans . N Engl J Med 308:1113-1116, 1983 .

McPherson JR , Juergens JL , Gilfford RW , et al: Thromboangiitis obliterans and arteriosclerosis obliterans. Ann Intern Med 59:288-296, 1963.

Sionoya S. , Ban I. , Nakata Y. , et al: Diagnosis, pathology, and treatment of Buerger's disease. Surgery 75:695-700, 1974.

Fujii K. , Tsuji M. , Murota K. , et al: An improved enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of anti-collagen antibodies in human serum. J Immunol Methods 124:63-70, 1989.

Smolen JS , Youngchaiyud U. , Weidinger P. , et al: Autoimmunological aspects of thromboangiitis obliterans. Clin Immunol Immunopathol 11:168-177, 1978.

Mathew JD , Hooper BM , Whittingham S. , et al: Association of antibodies with smoking, cardiovascular morbidity and death in Bussel Town population. Lancet 2:754, 1973.

Peracchia C. , Vassallo C. : Alterations in collagen in the arteries of thromboangiitic patients. Angiology 17:451-459, 1966.

10.

Tanaka T. , Tada Y. , Murakami Y. , et al: Occlusion of the arteries of the forearm and hand after repeated blunt trauma. J Jpn Coll Angiol 17:363-367, 1977.

11.

Roncon AR , Delgado L. , Correia P. , et al: Circulating immune complex in Buerger's disease. Endarteritis obliterans in a young man. J Cardiovasc Surg 30:821-825, 1989.

12.

Gulati S. , Madhra K. , Thusoo TK , et al: Autoantibodies in thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's disease) . Angiology 33:642-651, 1982.

13.

Zheng P. , Fu PB , Wang WC , et al: Immunological studies on thromboangiitis obliterans. Chin Med J 102:129-136, 1989.

14.

Wyosokinski WE : Peripheral necrosis of hind legs of rabbits immunized by elastin. Vasa 27 (Suppl):73-78, 1989.

15.

Bruno V. , Jurgen R. : Localization of collagen types I, III, IV and V, fibronectin and laminin in human arteries by the indirect immunofluorescence method. Path Res Pract 181:568-575, 1986.