title: Studies on endothelial cell cytotoxic activity in sera of patients with progressive systemic sclerosis, Raynaud syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: Using human umbilical cord endothelial cell cultures and a modified 3HTdR uptake technique, endothelial cell cytotoxic activity (ECA) has been demonstrated in sera of 95/130 patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS), 14/20 patients with Raynaud syndrome (RS), 52/153 rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and 47/113 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) sera. ECA could be enriched by gel filtration from PSS sera in a molecular weight range of 5 k daltons. ECA was partially associated with serum proteins, mainly in the albumin containing fraction, albeit at a lower level of activity. In PSS, no relationship of ECA to the type of skin involvement was observed. ECA appears to be a low molecular weight mediator of, as yet, unknown origin.
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003095:Collagen Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D011928:Raynaud Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004247:DNA