Antibodies to cow's milk
proteins (
CMP) were studied by radioallergosorbent tests to determine the quantity and
immunoglobulin class of these
antibodies in nine patients with
precipitins to cow's milk. Three of these patients had
pulmonary hemosiderosis (PH); in one other patient
pulmonary hemosiderosis was suspected, but not proven. Three patients had nonhemosiderosis chronic
lung disease and two had other diseases. Age-matched control subjects were also studied. The quantity and
immunoglobulin class distribution of
antibodies to
CMP were similar in all patients; the quantity of anti-
CMP antibody was significantly greater in patients than in control subjects (P less than 0.001). In addition,
complement-fixing antibody to
CMP was not detected in either patients' or controls' sera. Lymphocyte responses to
CMP were studied in three patients with PH, three individuals with other manifestations of
milk hypersensitivity (positive controls), and nine negative control subjects. Patients and positive control subjects responded to
CMP with greater tritiated
thymidine incorporation than the negative control subjects (P less than 0.05). However, no significant difference in response to
CMP was observed between the PH patients and the positive control subjects.
Antibodies to human lung tissue were studied in the sera of all patients with PH and two negative control subjects.
Antibodies to human lung and rat lung were detected in one patient with PH.