RESEARCHERS FIND IMPLANT ANTIBODIES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 17, 1992                   TAG: 9201170231
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
RESEARCHERS FIND IMPLANT ANTIBODIES
Medical researchers at the University of Texas say they discovered the first direct evidence that the human immune system can make antibodies that attack the silicone in breast implants.
The findings, which did not become widely known when they emerged in the 1980s, add credence to growing suspicion among physicians that silicone-gel breast implants can trigger the immune system to make antibodies against silicone, which then go on to attack the body's own tissues. The antibodies that attack silicone were found in 79 women who had breast implants and also were suffering from various autoimmune diseases.
It is known that self-attacking antibodies can cause rheumatoid arthritis, a painful joint disease; scleroderma, a thickening and hardening of the skin; and lupus erythematous, an inflammatory disease that causes a wide range of symptoms. All three, as well as other diseases, have been reported in women with silicone-gel implants over the past eight years.
Because the linkage to breast implants has been largely anecdotal and because there were no epidemiological studies comparing women with implants to those without, many in the medical community have been reluctant to take the allegations seriously. The antibody findings, if confirmed, would begin to provide a solid biological basis for the linkage.
They also are likely to figure in the Food and Drug Administration's current re-evaluation of the safety of silicone-gel breast implants.
The findings do not automatically mean silicone implants trigger autoimmune diseases. Immune systems differ from person to person and it could be that people whose systems are predisposed to attack their own body also are predisposed to attack any foreign material, including silicone.
One of the Texas researchers, John P. Heggers, said he suspects only a small percentage of women have immune systems that will make antigens to silicone. He compared the situation to penicillin: Even though some people are dangerously allergic to it, it remains on the market as a valuable antibiotic.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB