Demonstration of Serological Specificity in the Reaction of Individual Gamma Globulins with Rheumatoid Factors by Hemagglutination. ∗

Summary

Gamma globulin (7S) isolated by chromatographic techniques from 2 normal individuals and from one patient with rheumatoid arthritis coats tannic acid-treated sheep erythrocytes and detects rheumatoid factors with a specificity not found using pooled human gamma globulin. The serological specificity of individual gamma globulin preparations is destroyed by heating the protein to 63°C for 5 minutes. The specificity is also observed in an inhibition system using whole rheumatoid serum or its pseudoglobulin fraction. The results may be explainable by the presence of multiple determinants in both the 7S gamma globulin isolated from individuals as well as in the rheumatoid factor complex found in individual rheumatoid sera.