Measles antibodies and immunoglobulins in sera from patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) and from an infected ferret.

Cellulose acetate electrophoresis of sera from 2 patients with SSPE revealed a slow-moving and a fast-moving gamma-globulin band. The IgG fractions from sera were isolated by the combination of starch block electrophoresis, Sephadex gel filtration and isoelectric focusing techniques. The purity of each protein was tested by immunoelectrophoresis using a potent goat anti-whole human serum. The isolated IgG preparations were tested in HI, CF and N tests against measles virus envelope, measles virus nucleocapsid and whole measles virus, respectively. The results showed that isolated IgG fractions, having different electrophoretic mobilities, contained high titers of HI, CF and N antibodies, and these titers were proportional to the protein concentration of IgG. Although both IgG fractions appeared to show an increase of K-type chain, neither fraction was devoid of L-type chain. These results indicate that the homogeneous IgG bands observed in the SSPE serum were not monoclonal as they failed to show selective increase of one type of light chain and uneven distribution of measles antibody activity. These findings were compared with the results from a ferret, which developed encephalitis 2 months after intracerebral inoculation with cell-associated measles virus derived from the brain of an SSPE patient. The electrophoretic pattern of the ferret serum was similar to that of the human. High titers of measles HI and N antibodies were seen in the isolated slow- and fast-moving IgG's. The similarities observed in the human and ferret IgG's, with respect to homogeneous bands in electrophoresis and measles HI and H antibody activities, suggest that the ferret may be a useful animal model for studying the immune mechanism of SSPE.