Circulating immune complexes and rheumatoid arthritis.

Circulating immune complexes (CIC), as detected by the Clq binding assay (ClqBA) in sera from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were not demonstrable on analysis by ultracentrifugation on sucrose gradients. This discrepancy could be explained by the finding that polyethylene glycol 6000(PEG), used in the ClqBA to separate free radiolabelled Clq from complex bound Clq, increased the avidity of rheumatoid factor (RF), resulting in the formation of Clq binding RF IgM IgG complexes. Addition of purified RF IgM to normal human serum generated a positive ClqBA in a dose dependent way. The increased complex formation between RF IgM and IgG by PEG was also demonstrated in an enzyme linked immunoabsorbent assay and with sucrose gradients, where complexes became detectable when PEG was present. On the other hand RF IgM IgG Clq complexes obtained from the ClqBA dissociated upon removal of PEG. We conclude that high amounts of immune complexes, detected in RA sera by the ClqBA, are at least partly the result of in vitro complex formation between RF IgM and IgG. Therefore the results of this assay do not reflect the situation in the circulation in vivo.