The Dependence of Cold Agglutinin Activity on K Chains

[摘要] Cold agglutinins obtained from patients with infectious mononucleosis, Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections, systemic lupus erythematosus and naturally occurring cold agglutinins are bitypic IgM containing K and L type light chains in the same molecule. Cold agglutinins produced by patients with chronic cold agglutinin disease contain exclusively K type light chains. In vitro hybridization studies suggest that cold agglutinin activity is proportional to the number of K type 7S-subunits contained in the IgM molecule.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）