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John K. Miller, MD; Jill Robinson
New York State Department of Health Albany

Max E. Panitch, MD
Kenneth Soike Albany Medical College

JAMA. 1972;221(13):1517-1518.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The search for a causal relation between collagen diseases and auto-immune systems has extended to two new antigen-antibody complexes. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodies in sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)¹ have been reported.

Hepatitis-associated antigen (HAA) has been found in sera of patients with polyarteritis nodosa (PAN),² RA,³ and SLE.⁴ Gocke and co-workers² demonstrated by immunofluorescence an immune complex of HAA, IgM globulin, and β complement in a biopsy from the arterial wall of a patient with PAN. It is well known that arthralgia and clinical arthritis occur in the prodromal period of viral hepatitis.

Sera from 54 patients with collagen disease were tested for EBV antibodies by the method of Henle and Henle,⁵ for HAA by immunoelectrophoresis (cellulose acetate membrane), and by the hemagglutination assay of Vyas and Shulman.⁶

The Table summarizes the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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