FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 301:1018-1022 November 8, 1979 Number 19 Next

	Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

Abstract

We studied a five-year-old girl with several autoimmune disorders and a 16-year-old boy with acquired agammaglobulinemia to determine whether aberrations of immunoregulatory T cells could explain some instances of immunodeficiency or autoimmunity. The normal peripheral blood T-cell population, as defined by specific heteroantiserums, is 20 per cent TH2+ and 80 per cent TH2-. Human suppressor cells are TH2+, whereas helper cells are TH2-. In addition, each subset expresses Ia antigens upon activation. Our patient with autoimmune disease had no demonstrable TH2+ cells, and her lymphocytes could not be induced to suppress. Her circulating T cells were of an activated-helper phenotype, i.e., TH2-,Ia+. In contrast, in the boy with agammaglobulinemia, the T-cell population was predominantly of an activated-suppressor phenotype, i.e., TH2+,Ia+. This patient's T cells abrogated both his own and his histoidentical brother's B-cell secretion of immunoglobulins. We conclude that the characterization of T cells may provide insight into the causes of a number of abnormal immune states in man.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Arcavi, L., Benowitz, N. L. (2004). Cigarette Smoking and Infection. Arch Intern Med 164: 2206-2216 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bjoro, K., Froland, S. S., Yun, Z., Samdal, H. H., Haaland, T. (1994). Hepatitis C Infection in Patients with Primary Hypogammaglobulinemia after Treatment with Contaminated Immune Globulin. NEJM 331: 1607-1611 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Alt, W., Hochman, H. I. (1982). Thyrotoxicosis and Myasthenia Gravis: Case Reports and Discussion of Immunologic Similarities. CLIN PEDIATR 21: 749-752