Subject(s)
Immunity, Cellular , Lymphocyte Activation , Macrophages/immunology , Mycobacteriophages/immunology , Animals , Cell Migration Inhibition , Cells, Cultured , Deoxyribonucleases/pharmacology , Guinea Pigs , Humans , L-Lactate Dehydrogenase/blood , Lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus , Lectins/pharmacology , Lymphocyte Activation/drug effects , Lymphocytes/drug effects , Lymphocytes/immunology , Lysogeny , Mice , Mycobacteriophages/radiation effects , Mycobacterium , Mycobacterium Infections/immunology , Puromycin/pharmacology , Radiation Effects , Ribonucleases/pharmacology , Trypsin/pharmacology , Ultraviolet Rays , Virus Diseases/enzymologyABSTRACT
Cultures of leukocytes from patients with sarcoidosis were stimulated with Kveim antigen or PPD-S and the macrophage reactions were compared with those obtained under similar conditions with leukocyte cultures from healthy tuberculin reactors. The non-stimulated control cultures of Kveim-positive sarcoid patients showed signs of macrophage activation, namely an increase in cytoplasmic pyroninophilia in small and enlarged macrophages, together with a higher than normal rate of lymphoblast transformation. In the presence of Kveim antigen this activation was more marked, even in cases where the blast response to the antigen was of low magnitude. Stimulation with tuberculoproteins produced a slight activation of macrophages only in cultures from Kveim reactors who had also shown positive tuberculin reactions.These observations suggest that the study of lymphocyte transformation together with that of macrophage activation will improve the immunocytological assessment of sarcoidosis.
Subject(s)
Macrophages/immunology , Sarcoidosis/immunology , Skin Tests , Acute Disease , Humans , In Vitro Techniques , Leukocytes/immunology , Lipid Metabolism , Lymph Nodes , Lymphocyte Activation , Lymphocytes/immunology , Macrophages/metabolism , Mitosis , Obesity/metabolism , Sarcoidosis/diagnosis , Time FactorsABSTRACT
One hundred consecutive patients suspected of having sarcoidosis were examined by means of available diagnostic procedures and the results of the examinations were compared. While Kveim tests and/or lymphocyte transformation tests gave the most significant results in cases of less than two years' standing, a combination of these and organ biopsies is required for the diagnosis of cases of more than two years' duration.An interpretation of the immunological deviations observed in sarcoidosis is attempted on the basis of observations made on leukocyte cultures and on isolations of mycobacteriophages from patients with sarcoidosis.
