ABSTRACT
Patients with mevalonic aciduria accumulate mevalonate in their and present unexplained crises of fever, lymphadenopathy, edema and mucocutaneous manifestations. In the present study, we investigated the action of mevalonate on in vitro proliferation of human lymphocytes unstimulated and stimulated by phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A) and pokeweed mitogen (PWM) in order to assess possible immunomodulatory activities which could explain these symptoms. The mitogen-induced lymphocyte response was evaluated from the extent of the incorporation of 3H-thymidine into cellular DNA in vitro. Our results show that mevalonate in doses up to 5 mM does not affect human lymphocyte transformation. Furthermore, mevalonate does not reverse the suppression of lymphocyte blastogenesis caused by cortisol (100 ng/ml). These results indicate that this compound or its metabolites do not affect directly lymphocyte responsiveness.