Monitor immune complex disease (ie, lupus, glomerulonephritis, serum hepatitis, arthritis, vasculitis); monitor progress of some malignancies.
Circulating immune complexes can be demonstrated in rheumatic, infectious, and neoplastic diseases, as well as most immunologically mediated illnesses (inflammatory bowel disease, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura). The 1981 WHO/IUIS survey of laboratory tests in clinical immunology concluded that the detection of circulating immune complexes is not essential to any specific diagnosis.