Anticardiolipin antibodies and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.

On the basis of an increased incidence of anticardiolipin antibodies in patients with infectious mononucleosis which has induce to postulate the existence of cross-reactions between infectious (viral) antigens and cardiolipin, the AUthors report here their experience concerning immunologic and biochemical similarities between Pneumocystis carinii organisms and cardiolipin. They observed that in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), anticardiolipin antibodies occurred almost exclusively among those patients who had active P. carinii pneumonia. To test the cross-reactive hypothesis, they did several experiments.