Antibody responses in arthritic and uncomplicated Yersinia enterocolitica infections

Concentrations of antiyersinia antibody isotypes IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, IgA and IgM were measured in 33 patients with yersiniosis using a solid-phase radioimmunoassay. Sixteen patients had a complicating reactive arthritis. Throughout the observation period IgG1 and IgM antibodies both constituted approximately one-third of the total antibodies, while IgA accounted for 10%, IgG3 accounted for 1%, and IgG4 antibodies could not be detected. IgG1, IgM, and IgA antibodies (and the total titer) had reached their peak at the beginning of the observation period (ca. day 20 after the onset of symptoms). The levels then gradually decreased; the total titers averaged 40 times the background at the beginning of the observation period and 4 times the background on day 350. IgM antibodies could be detected as late as a year after the infection. The concentration of IgG2 antibodies varied greatly from patient to patient. In most patients it increased until a plateau was reached approximately 2 months after the onset of symptoms. A decline was observed later. Five arthritic but no nonarthritic patients had a pronounced IgG2 response (more than half of the IgG antibodies were IgG2 in one or several samples).