IMMUNO-PROFILE STUDIES IN PATIENTS WITH PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS .1. CORRELATION OF PRE-THERAPY CELLULAR TESTS WITH CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DISEASE

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 60  (4) , 161-167
Abstract
Cell immunity profiles were determined in 46 patients with previously untreated pulmonary tuberculosis confirmed bacteriologically and in 21 blood donors. Evaluations were made of T[thymus-derived]-lymphocytes, blastic transformation of lymphocytes after stimulation with phytohemagglutinin or tuberculoprotein and migration inhibition of blood leukocytes stimulated by tuberculoprotein. The average proportion of T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood was significantly diminished in the group of tuberculous patients, and intensity of the decline correlated with age and extent of the disease. Migration of leukocytes in tuberculous patients was, in the presence of tuberculoprotein, markedly inhibited. The inhibition was correlated to the extent of the disease, expressed as the number of bacilli excreted. Despite depression of immunocompetent cells, active daughter clones under the influence of a specific antigen are capable of producing a factor conditioning migration inhibition.

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