Immunoglobulins in urine from patients with ileal and colonic conduits and reservoirs.

Gel chromatography of proteins in urine from continent cecal urinary reservoirs revealed an abundance of high molecular weight proteins, especially secretory immunoglobulin A. Quantitation of immunoglobulins in urine from ileal and colonic conduits and ileal and cecal reservoirs showed secretory immunoglobulins A, G and M in amounts considerably greater than in urine from normal urinary tracts, whether or not bacteriuria was present. More secretory immunoglobulin A was found in reservoir than in conduit urine, but there was no such difference for immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M. In hemagglutination-inhibition tests, immunoglobulin A antibodies from cecal reservoir urine in 1 patient inhibited adherence (mannose-resistant) to human and animal erythrocytes of Escherichia coli obtained from reservoir urine from that same patient. High levels of secretory immunoglobulin A may constitute a host defense mechanism against urinary tract infection in patients with reservoirs and conduits.