Immunofluorescent staining of lung biopsy in fibrosing alveolitis

There is a group of lung diseases, as yet of unknown cause, which are characterized by a pathologic picture of alveolar wall fibrosis with an intra-alveolar exudate containing large cells. A case is reported with this clinicopathological picture in which immunofluorescent studies of the biopsied lung tissue revealed no tissue-bound immunoglobulins, complement component (beta(1) C) or fibrinogen. The literature on the immunofluorescent studies of biopsied lung tissue in this group of lung diseases is reviewed. The reports are scant and varied, making it impossible to conclude that autoallergic mechanisms are solely responsible as the pathogenetic mechanism in this group of lung diseases.