Phosphorylcholine antibodies in pulmonary infection.

Phosphorylcholine (PC) antibodies in serum from patients with pulmonary infection, and from normal individuals, were studied. Anti-PC antibodies were detectable in the serum from normal individuals at mean concentrations of 320 micrograms/ml for the IgG class and 110 micrograms/ml for the IgM class. Concentrations of anti-PC antibodies which were higher than normal for both the IgG and IgM classes were observed in the serum in pulmonary infection (1,440 micrograms/ml and 210 micrograms/ml, respectively). Despite the significant difference in the concentration of anti-PC antibodies, the PC-specific B cell precursor frequency in the peripheral blood lymphocytes showed no difference between normal individuals and the patients with pulmonary infection, or between the acute phase and the chronic phase in a single patient with chronic pulmonary infection. Serologically, the purified IgG anti-PC antibody did not share the cross-reactive idiotype of TEPC 15, which is the most common idiotype of the murine anti-PC antibodies. However, the purified IgM anti-PC antibody expressed a very weak cross-reactive idiotype of TEPC 15. It appears from these studies that human anti-PC antibodies may play an important biological role in pulmonary infection by microorganisms which possess a PC determinant.