What does a blood test for the CEC show? Let's figure it out.
Circulating immune complexes in the blood plasma indicate the presence in the human body of various processes of inflammation. Thanks to this analysis, you can find out about the presence of autoimmune pathologies in a patient and observe their activity. Such a diagnosis is prescribed by the doctor in a situation where it is impossible to diagnose the patient for several reasons, but he has reason to suspect the presence of fungal and viral autoimmune diseases. A blood test for the CEC is done both among adults and among children. Such a study can be done as a separate procedure, and simultaneously with other blood tests.
Blood test description
The CEC is a component, the beginning of the production of which is carried out in the human body. They form in the blood as a reaction to the penetration of foreign bodies. Such complexes include antibodies, antigens, and other elements. If a person experiences an appropriate reaction and disrupts the production of DNA, this indicates a malfunction of the immune system in the patient's body. The main goal of such components is to detect and remove pathogenic allergens and bodies from the body as quickly as possible. After the CEC performs its function, they are most often destroyed under the influence of phagocytes.
Where are the CECs formed?
Circulating immune complexes can form both directly in the blood and in the liver. If they are unnecessary, they are simply excreted from the human body. If the patient is seriously ill, suffers from an infectious disease, the content of the components increases to a large extent. In this case, they begin to deposit on the liver and eventually form a dense film that provokes the onset of the inflammation process. If such a lesion was not diagnosed at an early stage, this can cause the spread of the pathology to other organs inside the abdominal cavity. Often, such changes lead to cancer. The normal degree of CEC in the blood plasma ranges from 30 to 90 IU per milliliter.
Study preparation
Before a blood test for the CEC, it is strongly advised to exclude smoking and increased motor activity. It is recommended to take biomaterial before 10 am, on an empty stomach. It’s best if at least eight hours elapse between the last meal and the analysis. Water is allowed to drink.
Decryption analysis
For the CEC in the blood test, the norm is 0.055-011 conventional units. Patients often ask the question: "What does the increase in circulating immune complexes mean?" In this case, to what extent this indicator is increased is of great importance.
Decryption of a blood test at the CEC should be carried out by a highly qualified specialist.
With a moderate deviation, we can talk about the presence of inflammatory pathologies (sometimes this is even a variant of the norm). With a significant increase, most often we are talking about autoimmune diseases.
Why and when is the study done?
A blood test for the CEC is required for symptoms: allergies; complications after surgery; oncopathologies; various immunodeficiencies; autoimmune pathologies; recurrent or prolonged infections.
Gynecologists in many situations, thanks to this analysis, can determine the features of the course of the disease, establish its origin and understand what are the causes of miscarriage.
We continue to consider deviations from the norm and the interpretation of the results of a blood test for the CEC.
Increase indicator and its value
In addition to the fact that the body creates circulating immune complexes, it also destroys them. Phagocytes act on bodies that have already fulfilled their protective function, and ultimately destroy them. However, with an autoimmune disease in a patient, this means that the body either produces too many antibodies at a time, or they do not break down after completing their task.
In the development of many CECs, they lose their inherent properties. As a result, a large number of elements are found in the human body that cannot protect it and provoke inflammation processes. Excessive or unused circulating immune complexes settle on human organs. Especially affected are the kidneys, which are covered with a cellular layer of elements, which makes their functioning more difficult. An inflammatory process begins that can cause disease progression, tissue destruction, or a partial degree of organ atrophy.
The formation of antibodies is the desired process that should be in the body. With an excessive number of complexes and malfunctions of their functions, allergens and viruses can penetrate the body, which will have nothing to oppose. The human body in this period is especially susceptible to numerous diseases. Even ordinary SARS can cause significant disturbances and develop into another pathology.
If the complexes in the blood of a person are in high numbers, then the formation of both inflammatory processes and tumors is observed in the body. Such neoplasms and diseases can cause the development of diseases and serious damage to all internal organs and the immune system. To conduct the study, the patient needs to take a blood test, which will then be connected to the C1q elements. The result will be determined by the degree of ability of plasma cells to interact with these components. When the CEC in a blood test is elevated, how to treat pathology is important to find out in advance.
Decreased content
If the number of CEC decreases, this leads to various deviations and tissue destruction. Inadequate production of elements causes diseases of the immune system, because the body is no longer able to protect itself independently from pathological factors. With insufficient content of complexes, this leads to their accumulation on individual organs. The main functions of substances are lost, they grow on the tissues of the body and destroy it.
This occurs due to cellular decay and a decrease in the density of the walls of blood vessels. As a result, the degree of CEC in the tissues increases, and the phagocytes are no longer capable of cleaving them.
CEC can be present not only independently in the blood plasma, but also bind to red blood cells. These links in deficiency or excess do not have a destructive effect and do not significantly harm the body, therefore, when analyzing, they pay attention only to the presence of elements directly in the human blood.
The level of components can be checked by reaction to substances such as C1g and C3d. With a significant decrease in indicators, we can talk about the defeat of the gene responsible for the transformation of protein elements in the body. A reduced degree indicates the presence of vasculitis, an autoimmune lesion, or an allergic disease. This indicator often indicates the presence of endocarditis, infectious arthritis, HIV or hepatitis.
CEC in the analysis of blood for opisthorchiasis
Infection with helminths manifests itself in the form of a large number of symptoms that are characteristic of other diseases and have nothing to do with invasion. Therefore, the diagnosis of helminthiasis is a difficult task.
If we are talking about a dangerous infection - opisthorchiasis, the importance of correct and timely determination of it increases many times.
Opisthorchiasis is a helminthiasis that is caused by a trematode of a family such as Opisthorchidae.
A person becomes infected by eating fish from the cyprinid family affected by larvae of opisthorchis. The disease is associated with the functioning of parasites in the ducts of the pancreas and liver. The main pathological process is chronic cholangitis and inflammation of the pancreatic ducts.
Circulating immunocomplexes allow detecting antigens, if the invasion is chronic, prolonged. However, to conduct a blood test at the CEC, expensive, complex, special equipment is needed, which is not in every clinic. Among other things, to determine the CEC requires a set of special reagents.
Plasma circulating immune complexes indicate various kinds of inflammatory processes in the body.
Conclusion
Circulating immune complexes are an auxiliary diagnostic method and reflect the state of the body as a whole (the extent to which it has suffered from infection). Also, his condition is indicated by the indicators of the CEC, and if they exceed the established value (1: 100), we can talk about the presence of an infectious or inflammatory process in the body, that is, the presence of parasites in it.
We examined how a blood test is performed on the CEC.