IgG and Complement-Fixing Pseudointercellular Antibodies After Thermal Injury

The IgG and complement-fixing (C'F) peripheral or membranal antinuclear autoantibodies masquerading as intercellular antibodies have been observed by indirect immunofluorescence on autologous skin biopsy specimens of two patients following thermal injury. Immunohistologic localization in these patients of in vivo bound C' to the nuclear membrane, the same site at which in vitro reactions of both IgG and C'F autoantibody occur offer further evidence suggestive of the participation of immunologic phenomena following thermal injury that may contribute to the generalized depression of host resistance in burn patients.