[Various quantitative and qualitative characteristics of circulating immune complexes in rheumatic vasculitis]

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus associated with and without the clinical signs of the involvement of blood vessels were examined for the concentration of circulating immune complexes (CIC) and for the content of rheumatoid factor (RF), DNA and RNA as well as for the concentration of DNA, RNA and activity of acid nucleases in blood plasma. It was established that rheumatic vasculitis is coupled with a high concentration of CIC. In rheumatoid vasculitis, CIC contain a lot of rheumatoid factors which become far more activated after acidic dissociation of CIC. In patients with lupus vasculitis, CIC contain extremely much DNA. This is accompanied by dissociated interaction of DNA-DNase in blood plasma - activation of the enzyme is followed by the increased concentration of the substrate.