Deficiency of suppressor lymphocyte activity in chronic active alcoholic liver disease

Abstract

DEFICIENCY OF SUPPRESSOR LYMPHOCYTE ACTIVITY IN CHRONIC ACTIVE ALCOHOLIC LIVER DISEASE. H. Kawanishi, H. Tavassolie, E. Schervish and R. P. MscDermott. University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. To examine cellular immunoregulatory abnormalities in the progression of chronic active alcoholic liver disease (AALD), suppressor cell inducibility was determined (.I Exp Med 143:1100, 1976). Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) fromage-matched normals, 4 patients with chronic inactive alcoholic liver disease (IALD) and 11 patients with AALD were stimulated in vitro for 2 days, treated with -mitomycin C, and then co-cultured with autologous or allogeneic normal lymphocytes which were undergoing lectininduced mitogenic stimulation with L-PHA, Con A, or PWM or mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC)-induced blast transformation with allogeneic normal lymphocytes. The results are expressed below as % suppression (Mean ? S.D.) Con A Induced Responding % Sup of Responding PBL’s sup Cell source Cells in Culture With L-PEA Con A PWM ~-MLC Normal Autologous 38.9? 43.7+ 43.3-t 58.9? 17.3 16.3 19.3 15.0 Allogeneic 33.7i 39.7? 42.22 16.1 17.8 17.7 IALD Autologous 28.8? 40.3i 49.5+ 63.3? 7.4 17.2 14.1 16.7 Allogeneic 35.8+ 50.5? 59.52 10.6 25.1 18.1 AALD Autologous -2.Ot lO.O? 6.2? 3.8i 8.8 9.3 11.7 15.9 Allogeneic 2.6+ 10.12 4.4t 12.7 11.8 17.6 There were no significant differences found, in the ability to induce suppressor cells, between lymphocytes from normals and patients with IALD. In contrast, a lack of Con A inducible suppressor cell activity was found in AALD (p < 0.001). Furthermore, a defect of the suppressor cell function of AALD was observed in the response to an alcoholic hyalin antigen (-0.3 + 11.7%). These data suggest that a deficit in suppressor lymphocytes could be involved in the perpetuation of AALD.