Association of Altered Dynamics of Monocyte Surface Expression of Human Leukocyte Antigen DR with Immunosuppression in Tuberculosis

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Monocyte (MN) surface human leukocyte antigen DR was examined in 10 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and 12 healthy individuals using OKI1, a mouse monoclonal antibody to human DR, in a 51Cr-release cytotoxicity assay. Of freshly isolated MN from TB patients, 39.1 .+-. 4.4% (mean .+-. standard error of the mean) were DR+, compared with 57.2 .+-. 5.7% in healthy subjects (P < 0.02). After 24 h in culture, a sharp rise was observed in the TB group, to 78.1 .+-. 11.6% (P < 0.005), compared with 64.9 .+-. 5.1% in the control group. The TB patient group could be subdivided on the basis of tuberculin purified protein derivative-induced [3H]thymidine incorporation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). A significantly smaller fraction of MN from tuberculin nonresponder TB patients was DR+ (34.6 .+-. 6.0%) compared with healthy controls (59.4 .+-. 8.6%; P < 0.05). In the nonresponder group, a greater fraction of PBMC was identifiable as MN by cytochemical techinques (51.2 .+-. 3.6% vs. 38.0 .+-. 5.0% in the responder group; P < 0.02). Cell mixing experiments demonstrated increased suppressor activity of DR- MN.