title: Further evaluation of autoreactive T cells in hydatid patients.
abstract: We evaluated the peripheral autoreactive response in patients with Echinococcus granulosus who showed a negative humoral response as compared to seropositive patients and healthy controls. For this purpose, a limiting dilution analysis (LDA) of autologous mixed lymphocyte cultures was established to both estimate frequency of autoreactive T cells and, by analysing the shape of the curves, to clarify the mechanisms that underlie the autoreactive response. Different LDA curves were observed between healthy controls and patients, suggesting that different cell interactions are involved in the two populations. More interestingly, all hydatid patients, independent of their humoral response, showed a higher number of autoreactive T cells than controls. Precisely, subjects with a negative humoral response showed a range of values for autoreactive T cells exactly between the value ranges observed in seropositive and normal subjects. The present data also show that the increase of autoreactive T cells in hydatid patients correlates with the production of specific antibodies.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Immunologia, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Quintieri
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riganò
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pugliese
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teggi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siracusano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004444:Echinococcosis, Hepatic / Q000276:immunology*; D004445:Echinococcosis, Pulmonary / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*