title: Synergy in antigen presentation by thyroid epithelial cells and monocytes from patients with Graves' disease.
abstract: The present study was undertaken to examine the ability of thyrocytes from Graves' patients to present purified protein derivative (PPD) to autologous peripheral blood T cells. Normal human thyrocytes which were pre-cultured with interferon-gamma were able to induce the proliferation of T cells in response to PPD antigen, but unstimulated thyrocytes failed to do. Thyrocytes from Graves' patients on which HLA-DR antigens were expressed have an ability to induce the proliferation of T cells. Thyrocytes from Graves' patients which were pulsed with PPD antigen for 4 h were capable of stimulating proliferation of the T cells. However, the stimulation index of T cells co-cultured with thyrocytes and PPD were significantly lower than that of T cells co-cultured with monocytes and PPD. Sub-optimal numbers of monocytes which by themselves were unable to support T-cell proliferation synergistically augmented antigen presentation by thyrocytes. These results suggest that cellular interactions among thyrocytes, monocytes and T cells may perpetuate immune or autoimmune responses in thyroid tissues from Graves' patients.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Otsubo
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawabe
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shimomura
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ueki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tezuka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsunaga
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D002455:Cell Division; D004848:Epithelium / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000276:immunology*; D014373:Tuberculin / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D014373:Tuberculin