Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1985. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Immunoregulatory circuits in the acquired immune deficiency syndrome and related complex. Production of and response to interleukins 1 and 2, NK function and its enhancement by interleukin-2 and kinetics of the autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction.
Abstract:
The production of the T cell lymphokine interleukin-2 (IL-2) was found to impaired in all of seven male patients with AIDS or homosexuals with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (AIDS related complex, AIDS-RC) whom we studied. Conversely the T cell response to IL-2 was found unimpaired as was the production of the monocyte factor interleukin-1 (IL-1). The response of T cells to IL-1 was found markedly decreased in two of the four patients with AIDS and in two of the three patients with AIDS-RC. Five of six patients had flat curves in autologous mixed lymphocyte cultures with no significant proliferative response throughout 7 days. The exception was a Haitian heterosexual patient with AIDS. Natural killer cell function was decreased in three of four patients with AIDS and two of three patients with AIDS-RC but it augmented normally in the presence of IL-2 in four, including the two who had it normal basally. Responses to pokeweed mitogen were within normal limits in all seven patients despite decreased responses to concanavalin A and phytohaemagglutinin. These findings help pinpoint the defect in AIDS to the T4+ cell, and perhaps even to one of its subpopulations, and suggest a role for IL-2 in the treatment of AIDS.
Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*IMMUNOLOGY Adult Concanavalin A/PHARMACOLOGY Female Human Interleukin-1/*BIOSYNTHESIS Interleukin-2/*BIOSYNTHESIS Killer Cells, Natural/*IMMUNOLOGY Leukocyte Count Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed Lymphocyte Transformation Male Mitosis Phytohemagglutinins/PHARMACOLOGY Rosette Formation Support, Non-U.S. Gov't T-Lymphocytes/IMMUNOLOGY JOURNAL ARTICLE
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1985. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
