ALTERATION OF T-CELL SUBSETS AND IMMUNOGLOBULIN-SYNTHESIS INVITRO DURING HIGH-DOSE GAMMA-GLOBULIN THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH IDIOPATHIC THROMBOCYTOPENIC PURPURA

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 53  (3) , 697-702
Abstract
T cell subsets of peripheral lymphocytes were studied using monoclonal antibodies (OKT3, OKT4, OKT8) and Ig (IgG, IgM, IgA) synthesis in vitro by peripheral mononuclear cells stimulated with pokeweed mitogen was studied in adult patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura before and after high-dose i.v. intact gamma(.gamma.)globulin therapy, at a daily dose of 0.4 g/kg body weight for 5 consecutive days. A transient increase in platelet count which reached a peak on the 1st to 2nd day after the end of the therapy was observed in 4 of 5 patients. Ig synthesis in vitro was suppressed remarkably following therapy in all cases: the mean reduction of IgG, IgM and IgA was 78, 66 and 48%, respectively. Titers of various autoantibodies, thyroglobulin hemagglutinating antibody, thyroid microsomal hemagglutinating antibody, anti-nuclear factor, and anti-DNA antibody, also decreased following therapy. In correspondence to this, phenotypic analysis in T cell subsets showed a decrease of OKT4+:OKT8+ ratio following therapy, without a change in the proportion of OKT3+ cells. These data indicate that the i.v. .gamma.-globulin preparations suppressed synthesis of antibodies non-specifically and caused a relative increase of OKT8+ suppressor T cells.