[Immunological investigations of patients after thermic injury (author's transl)]

A burn toxin, which is important for the manifestation of clinical and septical processes during the burn disease, was isolated from burned skin of mice. Using this antigen we have studied the immunological reactions against burn toxin in 10 patients following thermic trauma. We determined the specific antibodies against the burn toxin by means of the passive hemagglutination test, the level of IgM, IgG and IgA in the serum using Mancini-immunodiffusion, the burn toxin binding cells by means of the antigen specific rosette technique and the cell-mediate immunity using the macrophage electrophoretic mobility test (MEM-test). A rise of the burn toxin-specific cells could be observed with maximum at day 4 and a second peak at day 10 and cell mediated immunity between day 10 and day 15. The titer of specific antibodies increased, most following an initial decrease, after day 6, a correlation seemed to exist between this titer and the level of immunoglobulins in the serum.