title: Studies of peripheral blood monocytes in pulmonary sarcoidosis.
abstract: In 14 patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis and 14 matched controls we studied peripheral blood lymphocyte and monocyte counts, distribution of T and B lymphocytes, the functional helper:suppressor T cell balance, the antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity of monocytes (monocyte ADCC), and the capacity of peripheral monocytes to generate angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in culture. Apart from lymphopenia in sarcoidosis patients we found a normal lymphocyte subset distribution and no evidence of increased suppressor T cell activity, using a PWM driven proliferative assay. The patients exhibited a normal monocyte count, but the proportion of monocytes was increased in sarcoidosis. Patients with active sarcoidosis had a significantly increased monocyte ADCC which was positively correlated with raised serum ACE. Peripheral monocytes had a measurable, but low ACE activity, which was modestly higher in active sarcoidosis than in controls. We could not reproduce earlier reported results on a glucocorticoid induced ACE synthesis from cultured human monocytes.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000920:Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009000:Monocytes / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology*; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000378:metabolism; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A