Abnormal immune function in malignant hypertension.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the extent to which the immune system is influenced in patients with previous malignant hypertension.


METHODS
Twenty-three patients with malignant hypertension (fundus hypertonicus grades III or IV) in the Gothenburg area were studied over a 3-year period. After treatment had been instituted they were investigated to establish the function of the cellular immune system (number of T lymphocytes and the proliferative response to T-cell mitogens), human leucocyte antigens A, B and C and frequency of autoantibodies.


METHODS
The numbers of T lymphocytes were quantified as erythrocyte rosettes. Lymphocyte-stimulation tests were carried out using the T-cell mitogens phytohaemagglutinin and concanavalin-A. Autoantibodies were determined with immunoassay techniques and leucocyte A, B and C antigens with a lymphocytotoxicity test.


RESULTS
The frequency of T lymphocytes and their baseline thymidine incorporation were significantly depressed in patients with previously malignant hypertension compared with control subjects. The group with malignant hypertension also had a decreased proliferative response to concanavalin-A but not to phytohaemagglutinin, and they had an increased frequency of antinuclear antibodies. Human leucocyte antigen B15 tended to occur more frequently in patients with malignant and non-malignant hypertension than in control subjects, especially if a family history of hypertension was taken into consideration.


CONCLUSIONS
The results from the present study indicate that immune mechanisms are involved in malignant hypertension, either secondary to the vascular damage or as a primary abnormality.
Hilme
E
E
Department of Nephrology, Sahlgrenska Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Hansson
L
L
Sandberg
L
L
Söderström
T
T
Herlitz
H
H
D000917:Antibody Formation; D005260:Female; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D006974:Hypertension, Malignant / Q000276:immunology*; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
D015235:HLA-B Antigens