Antibodies to Tamm-Horsfall Protein in Patients with Acute Pyelonephritis

Abstract

The role of antibodies to Tamm-Horsfall protein in the diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis was studied. Antibodies to Tamm-Horsfall protein were also determined in a group of normal subjects. Patients with acute pyelonephritis were divided into subgroups according to the concurrent presence of vesicoureteral reflux or nephrolithiasis. No statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) were observed for any class of antibodies (IgG, IgA and IgM) between the groups of healthy subjects and patients with acute pyelonephritis, regardless of the presence or absence of vesicoureteral reflux or nephrolithiasis. Values for different antibody classes showed that IgM antibodies were the most abundant in all the groups examined. A difference in the values of IgM relative to IgA and IgG antibodies was found to be statistically significant in the patient group only (p < 0.05). In patients with vesicoureteral reflux, there was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) between the values of IgM and of other antibody classes. In these patients, however, the highest values of all the three antibody classes were obtained, although these differences were also not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The results pointed to the need of further studies of the role of antibodies to Tamm-Horsfall protein in the diagnosis and pathogenesis of tubulointerstitial nephritis.

Short Communication

“…They were also higher than values observed in the test with the native molecule (18). They were also higher than values observed in the test with the native molecule (18).…”

“…Therefore, we decided to determine antibodies to the subunits obtained in vitro by splitting the native molecule with different chemical agents, assuming that this would unmask immunologically different epitopes. We reported previously (18) that IgM also showed the highest values in the test with native Tamm-Horsfall protein molecule in patients with acute pyelonephritis. This could be the consequence of non-specific binding of secondary antibodies to Tamm-Horsfall protein (13), or it could reflect cross-reactivity with other glycoproteins changes during inflammation (9,19).…”

“…Antibodies to Tamm-Horsfall protein were quantified by direct enzyme immunoassay according to the procedure proposed by Fasth et al (10) and modified by Benkovic et al (18). Tamm-Horsfall protein was denaturated with 0.0017 mol/1 sodium-dodecyl-sulphate (THP-S), with 6 mol/1 guanidine hydrochloride (THP-G), with 0.04 mol/1 urea (THP-U) and with 8.3 mol/1 acetic acid (ΤΗΡ-Α).…”