Abstract
The extracorporeal removal of circulating auto-antibodies by repeated plasma exchange or continuous lymph drainage is modeled by single-pool kinetics. Total amounts of antigenic determinants, k-valent antibodies and immune complexes are variables of the model. Factors influencing the course of therapy are included: production rate of antigen and antibody and their natural catabolism. This model can give useful formulae for clinical practice. The effect of treatment can be predicted from the relative depletion of antibody and the actual severity of the disease. Another formula shows how the changed catabolism of antigen after antibody binding can influence the amount of immune complexes. As an example, lymph drainage in myasthenia gravis is calculated using averaged data from three patients.
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