Kitt S, Lee C W, Fink J N, Calvanico N J
J Lab Clin Med. 1986 Nov;108(5):442-7.
Immunoglobulin G4 has previously been implicated in the pathogenesis of pigeon breeder's disease (PBD), a form of hypersensitivity pneumonitis associated with inhalation of pigeon antigens. We investigated the presence of IgG4 antibody to antigens in pigeon dropping extracts (PDE) in the lungs of pigeon breeders. Seven of these subjects had symptoms of PBD and eight others had no symptoms. IgG4 antibody to PDE was compared with IgG3 levels because both were relatively minor subclasses, but IgG3 is not considered reaginic whereas IgG4 is. An increase in IgG4 antibody relative to IgG3 would therefore be considered a selective increase and suggest a role for this subclass in the development of PBD. Our results, however, indicated that pigeon breeders without symptoms had significantly higher levels of serum IgG4 and that there were no significant differences with regard to the lavage fluid levels of IgG4, IgG3, or total IgG antibody in the two groups of subjects. A tendency of higher IgG4 antibody levels was found in lavage fluid from subjects without symptoms. These results do not support the hypothesis that IgG4 may act as a reaginic trigger in the development of PBD symptoms.
免疫球蛋白G4此前已被认为与养鸽者病（PBD）的发病机制有关，PBD是一种与吸入鸽抗原相关的超敏性肺炎。我们调查了养鸽者肺部中针对鸽粪提取物（PDE）中抗原的IgG4抗体的存在情况。这些受试者中有7人有PBD症状，另外8人没有症状。将针对PDE的IgG4抗体与IgG3水平进行比较，因为两者都是相对较小的亚类，但IgG3不被认为具有反应素性，而IgG4被认为具有反应素性。因此，相对于IgG3，IgG4抗体的增加将被视为选择性增加，并表明该亚类在PBD的发展中起作用。然而，我们的结果表明，没有症状的养鸽者血清IgG4水平显著更高，并且两组受试者在灌洗液中IgG4、IgG3或总IgG抗体水平方面没有显著差异。在没有症状的受试者的灌洗液中发现了IgG4抗体水平较高的趋势。这些结果不支持IgG4可能在PBD症状发展中作为反应素触发因素的假设。
