title: Glucocorticosteroid enhancement of immunoglobulin synthesis by pokeweed mitogen-stimulated human lymphocytes. III. Common variable immunodeficiency.
abstract: We studied the effect of glucocorticosteroids (GCS) on IgG synthesis by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 19 patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). Purified T and B lymphocyte subpopulations from patients and normal subjects were recombined at various T : B ratios and cultured for 8 days unstimulated, stimulated with pokeweed mitogen (PWM) and in the presence of prednisolone. IgG synthesis was measured in the culture supernatants by radioimmunoassay. Enhancement of PWM-stimulated IgG synthesis by prednisolone at high T : B ratios was found in nine patients, four of whom produced negligible amounts of IgG with PWM alone. In four patients, enhancement by prednisolone of IgG synthesis by purified B lymphocytes was noted. In three out of eight patients whose IgG synthesis was increased by normal allogeneic T lymphocytes with PWM and prednisolone, negligible amounts of IgG were produced by similarly treated autologous combinations. T lymphocytes from CVID patients provided less help compared with normal T lymphocytes for IgG synthesis by normal B lymphocytes at high T : B ratios even in the presence of prednisolone. GCS in vitro enhance IgG synthesis by lymphocytes from some but not all patients with CVID by a mechanism which appears independent of GCS action on regulatory T lymphocytes.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000361:Agammaglobulinemia / Q000276:immunology*; D000368:Aged; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007239:Infections / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011043:Pokeweed Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011043:Pokeweed Mitogens; D011239:Prednisolone