ASSAYS FOR ANTIGEN-STIMULATED LYMPHOCYTE-DERIVED MIGRATION ENHANCEMENT AND INHIBITION FACTORS FROM PATIENTS WITH THYROID DISEASES AND THEIR RELATIVES

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Abstract
Cell-mediated immunity to thyroid antigens was studied by means of an assay for antigen-stimulated leukocyte migration inhibition factor (LIF) in 5 groups of subjects: patients with Graves'' disease, Hashimoto''s thyroiditis, their relatives and normal controls. Evidence was also sought for the possibility that the hypothesized migration enhancement factor (MEF) might be produced by lymphocytes from patients with autoimmune disorders. Little evidence of LIF production and none of MEF production by the leukocytes of patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases was found upon exposure to thyroid antigens. Similarly, either none or only minimal amounts of LIF were demonstrated in culture supernatants of leukocytes of their immediate relatives.