title: Concanavalin A-induced suppressor cell activity and in vitro immunoglobulin secretion in rheumatoid arthritis: correlation with clinical and immunological parameters.
abstract: Concanavalin A-induced suppressor cell activity was found moderately but significantly (P less than 0.05) decreased in RA patients treated with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (31 +/- 7% suppression) as compared to patients on remission-inducing drugs, such as gold, penicillamine, or chloroquine (51 +/- 6%) or to healthy individuals (50 +/- 6%). Also, lymphocytes from patients with antibodies to collagen mediated lower suppression (33 +/- 7%) than lymphocytes from patients without evidence for these autoantibodies (61 +/- 11%). No significant difference between patients and controls or between individual groups of patients were observed in regard to IgM and IgG secretion induced by pokeweed mitogen. Thus, although no indication for a severe derangement of regulatory cells in peripheral blood of RA patients could be observed in this study, a slight deficiency of ConA-inducible suppressor cells that may be reverted by remission-inducing drugs seems to be present in RA.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000378:metabolism; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000378:metabolism; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000378:metabolism*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D007136:Immunoglobulins; D003208:Concanavalin A