Influence of antibody avidity on glomerular immune complex localization

Abstract

Immune-complex-mediated glomerulonephritis (IC-GN) was induced with daily intraperitoneal injections of horse apoferritin (HAF) for varying intervals in Swiss albino and BALB/c mice. Anti-HAF antibody avidity in plasma pools from mice with predominantly mesangial immune deposits was compared with avidity in plasma pools from mice with predominantly capillary wall deposits. Plasma from Swiss mice having predominantly mesangial deposits after 7 or 14 days of HAF had higher avidities than plasma from Swiss mice with predominantly capillary wall deposits after 14 days or more than 28 days of HAF. Plasma from BALB/c mice with exclusively mesangial deposits after 7 days of HAF had higher avidity than plasma from BALB/c mice with predominantly capillary wall deposits after 14 or more days of HAF. Therefore, there was a correlation between glomerular site of immune deposition and avidity of circulating anti-HAF antibodies, with higher avidity antibodies associated with mesangial immune deposits and lower avidity antibodies with capillary wall deposits.