ABNORMALITIES OF LYMPHOCYTE-T SUBSETS IN PATIENTS WITH PROGRESSIVE SYSTEMIC-SCLEROSIS (PSS, SCLERODERMA)

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 97  (2) , 264-277
Abstract
Patients (31) with PSS [progressive systemic sclerosis] (scleroderma) were examined for evidence of abnormalities in T lymphocyte subsets. TG [Fc-IgG receptor-positive T cells] and TM [Fc-IgM receptor-positive T cell] subpopulations of peripheral blood T lymphocytes were enumerated by rosetting techniques. The helper-suppressor functions of these lymphocytes were studied in the PWM[pokeweed mitogen]-activated in vitro assay. The absolute numbers of TG cells in patients with DS [diffuse scleroderma] and those with the CREST [calcinosis, Raynaud''s syndrome, esophageal dysfunction, Sclerodactyly-telangiectasia] syndrome variant of PSS were decreased in comparison with those in age-matched healthy controls (P < 0.05). The numbers of TM and T null cells were not significantly altered (P > 0.05). The reduction in the number of TG cells was not caused by lymphocytotoxic antibodies. The mean helper-suppressor scores for patients with PSS and DS (1.25) and those with CREST syndrome (1.36) were higher (P < 0.05) than the mean score for healthy individuals (0.80). No relationship between the immunoregulatory abnormality and the presence or titer of CIC [circulating immune complex], ANA [antinuclear antibody], hypergammaglobulinemia or various clinical manifestations of PSS could be demonstrated in individual patients. The finding of abnormalities in T lymphocyte subpopulations, and the demonstration of their altered functional expression in patients with PSS, indicate that immunoregulatory mechanisms may play an important role in this connective tissue disease.