The serum capacity to solubilize immune complexes (ICSC) measured by an enzyme-anti-enzyme complex probe

The capacity to solubilize immune complexes can be readily measured by incubating the test serum with a suspension of an immune precipitate formed by beta-galactosidase and anti-beta-galactosidase antibody, and then reading the enzyme units (EU) liberated in the clear supernatant. Our method is rapid and inexpensive; it can be performed in plates and read in scanning colorimeters. Although on large numbers of observations the ICSC is significantly correlated with the CH50, a few discordant cases suggest that solubilization and haemolysis are functions of the alternative and classical pathways of complement respectively.