An in vitro study of lymphocytes in patients with atopic dermatitis

Abstract

Summary The authors studied the T‐ and B‐lymphocyte sub‐populations, the stimulation of the lymphocytes with phytohaemagglutinin and pokeweed mitogen, the non‐specific T suppressor activity and the amounts of serum IgE in a group of thirty‐four patients with atopic dermatitis. Comparison with a group of 100 healthy controls revealed a diminution in the T sub‐population, an increase in the B sub‐population, no change in the response index to stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin or pokeweed mitogen, a diminished T‐suppressor activity and an increase in the level of serum IgE.

In vivo and in vitro effects of glucocorticoids on lectin-induced blastogenesis in atopic dermatitis

“…The normal response to Con A, PHA and PWM found in our patients with AD is in accordance with previous reports [23,32] which could not confirm findings of impaired leucocyte proliferation in AD [5,18,20]. The decreased Con A-induced blastogenesis in patients and controls after the administration of glucocorticoids in vivo and in vitro may be due to the suppressive effects of glucocorticoids on T-cell mitogenesis [8,16,28,34].…”

“…In particular, a decrease in suppressors cells [1,22] as well as normal rates of B lymphocytes have been noted [26,30,32]. However, some Offprint requests to: M-Rupprecht authors have reported normal T cells and elevated B cells in atopic dermatitis [6,12].…”

“…Hyporesponsiveness of T-and B-cell proliferation following stimulation with pokeweed mitogen (PWM), concanavalin A (Con A) or phytohaemagglutinin A (PHA) [5,18,20,26,29] has been reported as well as normal Con A-, PHA-and PWM-induced lymphocyte blastogenesis [13,23,32]. Glucocorticoids inhibit lymphocyte proliferation [8,28] by cytokinetic mechanisms [24] and affect the number of subpopulations of circulating lymphocytes by inducing a redistribution of intravasal cells to other lymphoid compartments, e.g.…”