Hanganutziu-Deicher antibodies in infectious mononucleosis and other diseases

An enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was developed for the detection of heterophile, Hanganutziu-Deicher (H-D) antibodies in sera of patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) and various other diseases. The EIA with a high m.w. glycoprotein (HMWGP) isolated from bovine erythrocyte stromata was shown to detect H-D antibodies directly, in spite of higher titers of Paul-Bunnell (P-B) antibodies in the IM sera. Absorption and inhibition studies of IM sera demonstrated H-D specificity of the antibodies combining with HMWGP in the EIA. The H-D antibodies were found in sera of 56% Caucasians and 27% of Japanese suffering from IM. The vast majority of the H-D antibodies in IM sera was of IgM class. Sera of patients with various other diseases also gave positive results: rheumatoid arthritis, 22%; syphilis, 19%; cancer of the gastrointestinal tract, 13%; and lepromatous leprosy 9.7%. The incidence of positive results in control sera from apparently healthy subjects was less than 4%. Results of this study confirmed our previous observation that whereas P-B antigens appear in immunogenic form in only IM, the H-D antigen is expressed as an immunogen in various diseases including IM.