Occupational asthma from nickel sensitivity: II. Factors influencing the interaction of Ni2+, HSA, and serum antibodies with nickel related specificity.

Serum from an individual with occupational asthma from nickel sulphate inhalation was shown by ammonium sulphate (Farr) and anti-IgG coprecipitation tests to contain antibodies which bind 63Ni2+. This binding was absent from 30 control sera. Ligand competition studies with serum and plasma from the propositus and controls are described, and include serial additions of HSA, L-histidine, EDTA, and the tripeptide gly-gly-L-his. The results, like …