LYMPH-NODE IMMUNOHISTOLOGY IN INTRAVENOUS DRUG-ABUSERS WITH PERSISTENT GENERALIZED LYMPHADENOPATHY

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  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 109  (11) , 1007-1012
Abstract
Lymph node biopsy specimens from 16 intravenous drug abusers with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy were evaluated by immunohistochemical methods using a panel of antisera to detect different cell populations. The 11 cases that we tested on cryostat sections showed an increased number of Leu-2a-positive cells (cytotoxic-suppressor phenotype) in the follicular centers and a significantly reduced helper-to-suppressor T-cell mean ratio when compared with control tissues. In these 11 patients the peripheral helper-suppressor ratio was at the lower normal limit or inverted. Ten cases tested for anti-human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III antibodies were positive. In all 16 cases, immunohistology of paraffin-embedded sections demonstrated a polyclonal B population; 12 of 15 patients tested had polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia, mostly IgG. The mixed-cell population of the lymph node sinuses was composed mostly of Leu-M1-positive and lysozyme-positive cells and, to a lesser extent, by .alpha.1-antichymotrypsin-positive and S100 protein-positive cells. It seems that many of the immunologic dysfunctions found in these patients appear to be reflected in a fairly repetitive immunohistological pattern.