RHEUMATOID FACTOR, COMPLEMENT, AND CONGLUTININ ABERRATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH SUBACUTE BACTERIAL ENDOCARDITIS*

Abstract

Subacute bacterial endocarditis produces in man a complex situation of interaction of host and invading organism. Little is known of anti- body response or of the specific mechanisms of immunity involved during the inception, course, and recovery from subacute bacterial endocarditis, although observations on streptococcal agglutinating and complement-fixing antibodies have been made by numerous workers (1-7). Recent ob- servations (8, 9) have indicated that animals immunized with certain, streptococcal and coliform organisms develop factors capable of agglutinating y-globulin-coated red cells and other particles. These properties indicate a similarity to rheuma- toid factors, and the possibility is raised that organisms or their products play a role in the production of rheumatoid factors in human dis- ease. A natural parallel to production of such rheumatoid factors in animals would be their occurrence in human disease states in which bac- teria are constantly fed into the circulation, as in miliary tuberculosis or subacute bacterial endo- carditis.