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Familial deficiency of the seventh component of complement associated with recurrent bacteremic infections due to Neisseria.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Lee, TJ; Utsinger, PD; Snyderman, R; Yount, WJ; Sparling, PF
Published in: J Infect Dis
September 1978

The serum of a 29-year old woman with a recent episode of disseminated gonococcal infection and a history of meningococcal meningitis and arthritis as a child was found to lack serum hemolytic complement activity. The seventh component of complement (C7) was not detected by functional or immunochemical assays, whereas other components were normal by hemolytic and immunochemical assessment. Her fresh serum lacked complement-mediated bactericidal activity against Neisseria gonorrhoeae, but the addition of fresh normal serum or purified C7 restored bactericidal activity as well as hemolytic activity. The absence of functional C7 activity could not be accounted for on the basis of an inhibitor. Opsonization and generation of chemotactic activity functioned normally. Complete absence of C7 was also found in one sibling who had the clinical syndrome of meningococcal meningitis and arthritis as a child and in this sibling's clinically well eight-year-old son. HLA histocompatibility typing of the family members did not demonstrate evidence for genetic linkage of C7 deficiency with the major histocompatibility loci. This report represents the first cases of C7 deficiency associated with infectious complications and suggests that bactericidal activity may be important in host defense against bacteremic neisseria infections.

Duke Scholars

Published In

J Infect Dis

DOI

ISSN

0022-1899

Publication Date

September 1978

Volume

138

Issue

3

Start / End Page

359 / 368

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Sepsis
  • Pedigree
  • Opsonin Proteins
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae
  • Microbiology
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Complement Pathway, Alternative
  • Complement C7
  • Chemotaxis
 

Citation

APA
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MLA
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Lee, T. J., Utsinger, P. D., Snyderman, R., Yount, W. J., & Sparling, P. F. (1978). Familial deficiency of the seventh component of complement associated with recurrent bacteremic infections due to Neisseria. J Infect Dis, 138(3), 359–368. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/138.3.359
Lee, T. J., P. D. Utsinger, R. Snyderman, W. J. Yount, and P. F. Sparling. “Familial deficiency of the seventh component of complement associated with recurrent bacteremic infections due to Neisseria.J Infect Dis 138, no. 3 (September 1978): 359–68. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/138.3.359.
Lee TJ, Utsinger PD, Snyderman R, Yount WJ, Sparling PF. Familial deficiency of the seventh component of complement associated with recurrent bacteremic infections due to Neisseria. J Infect Dis. 1978 Sep;138(3):359–68.
Lee, T. J., et al. “Familial deficiency of the seventh component of complement associated with recurrent bacteremic infections due to Neisseria.J Infect Dis, vol. 138, no. 3, Sept. 1978, pp. 359–68. Pubmed, doi:10.1093/infdis/138.3.359.
Lee TJ, Utsinger PD, Snyderman R, Yount WJ, Sparling PF. Familial deficiency of the seventh component of complement associated with recurrent bacteremic infections due to Neisseria. J Infect Dis. 1978 Sep;138(3):359–368.
Journal cover image

Published In

J Infect Dis

DOI

ISSN

0022-1899

Publication Date

September 1978

Volume

138

Issue

3

Start / End Page

359 / 368

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Sepsis
  • Pedigree
  • Opsonin Proteins
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae
  • Microbiology
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Complement Pathway, Alternative
  • Complement C7
  • Chemotaxis