Characterisation of immunofluorescent heterophile antibodies which may be confused with autoantibodies

Abstract

Human sera which stain parietal cells and renal tubular cells of rat but not other species also show apparent sarcolemmal staining of rat heart and produce characteristic reaction patterns on tissues of other species. Preliminary characterisation of these antibodies has been reported previously (Nicholson et al., 1977, Clin. Immunol. Immunopath., in press). The intention of this report is to characterise these heterophil antibodies in more detail. Approximately 6% of sera submitted for routine immunofluorescent autoantibody screening produced characteristic reaction patterns against a variety of animal and human tissues. It is suggested that these non-tissue-specific patterns represent a complex family of heterophil antibodies which could be confused with certain autoantibodies. It is further suggested that these heterophil antibodies bear a relationship to IgG isohemagglutinins.