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Natural anti-IgE auto-antibodies interfere with diagnostic IgE determination
C C Vassella1, A L de Weck, B M Stadler
1Institute of Clinical Immunology, Inselspital Bern, Switzerland.
Abstract:
A simple method is described which enables measurement of anti-IgE antibodies in free form as well as in immune complexes of IgE and anti-IgE. Anti-IgE antibodies were purified from serum of one selected blood donor with highly elevated levels of such autoantibodies. These purified anti-IgE auto-antibodies inhibited the measurement of myeloma IgE. Purification also revealed that 98% of the subject's serum IgE was masked by anti-IgE auto-antibodies. Our data suggest that IgE determinations in sera containing anti-IgE antibodies might be underestimated.