Autoantibodies to Interferon-γ in a Patient with Selective Susceptibility to Mycobacterial Infection and Organ-Specific Autoimmunity

We evaluated a patient with disseminated Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium chelonae infection, of which he died. He also developed autoimmune (type I) diabetes and primary hypothyroidism. His serum contained a high titer of immunoglobulin G autoantibody to interferon-γ (IFN-γ) capable of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical infectious diseases 2004-01, Vol.38 (1), p.e10-e14
Main Authors: Döffinger, Rainer, Helbert, Matthew R., Barcenas-Morales, Gabriela, Yang, Kun, Dupuis, Stephanie, Ceron-Gutierrez, Lourdes, Espitia-Pinzon, Clara, Barnes, Neil, Bothamley, Graham, Casanova, Jean-Laurent, Longhurst, Hilary J., Kumararatne, Dinakantha S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autoantibodies - blood
Autoimmunity
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 - etiology
Disease Susceptibility
Humans
Hypothyroidism - etiology
Immunoglobulin G - blood
Interferon-gamma - immunology
Male
Middle Aged
Mycobacterium chelonae
Mycobacterium chelonae - drug effects
Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous - complications
Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous - immunology
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - drug effects
Tuberculosis - complications
Tuberculosis - immunology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We evaluated a patient with disseminated Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium chelonae infection, of which he died. He also developed autoimmune (type I) diabetes and primary hypothyroidism. His serum contained a high titer of immunoglobulin G autoantibody to interferon-γ (IFN-γ) capable of blocking in vitro responses to this cytokine by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal donors. These results suggest that autoantibodies to IFN-γ can induce susceptibility to disseminated mycobacterial infection, which may be refractory to chemotherapy.
ISSN:1058-4838
1537-6591
DOI:10.1086/380453