Skip to main content
PMC home page
Clinical and Experimental Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Experimental Immunology
. 1973 Jun;14(2):193–202.

Depression of cell-mediated immunity in old age and the immunopathic diseases, lupus erythematosus, chronic hepatitis and rheumatoid arthritis

B H Toh, I C Roberts-Thomson, J D Mathews, Senga Whittingham, I R Mackay
PMCID: PMC1553794  PMID: 4577851

Abstract

Cell-mediated immunity was assessed in man by summation of positive delayed hypersensitivity (DHS) responses to five test antigens, Candida, mumps, trichophyton, tuberculin and streptokinase-streptodornase (Varidase). The study included forty-four controls comprising healthy persons and hospital inpatients with minor illnesses, forty-five aged persons, twenty-four patients with active chronic hepatitis (ACH), nine with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and fourteen patients with rheumatoid arthritis. For controls and the group with ACH, cell-mediated immunity was assessed also by transformation of blood lymphocytes with phytohaemagglutinin (PHA). The incidence of positive DHS responses to all antigens fell with advancing age, and responsiveness was significantly lower in all three groups of immunopathic disease, particularly ACH. Prednisolone was not associated with significantly depressed DHS reactions, but combined prednisolone and azathioprine were. Weak DHS responses were associated significantly with low titres of natural antibody to flagellin and with lower humoral immune responses to flagellin. Lymphocyte transformation in response to PHA in ACH was significantly less than in healthy controls. Thus certain autoimmune diseases show an immunological imbalance in the form of depressed cell-mediated immunity to extrinsic antigens and `hyperactive' humoral immune responses to `self' antigens and selected extrinsic antigens.

Full text

PDF
193

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Allison A. C., Denman A. M., Barnes R. D. Cooperating and controlling functions of thymus-derived lymphocytes in relation to autoimmunity. Lancet. 1971 Jul 17;2(7716):135–140. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(71)92306-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. BELLOMO J. Incidence of tuberculin reactors in a series of 2,000 patients seen in a private practice of internal medicine. Dis Chest. 1952 Feb;21(2):179–183. doi: 10.1378/chest.21.2.179. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Block S. R., Gibbs C. B., Stevens M. B., Shulman L. E. Delayed hypersensitivity in systemic lupus erythematosus. Ann Rheum Dis. 1968 Jul;27(4):311–318. doi: 10.1136/ard.27.4.311. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. DIAGNOSTIC criteria for rheumatoid arthritis: 1958 revision by a committee of the American Rheumatism Association. Ann Rheum Dis. 1959 Mar;18(1):49–53. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Daguillard F. Immunologic significance of in vitro lymphocyte responses. Med Clin North Am. 1972 Mar;56(2):293–303. doi: 10.1016/s0025-7125(16)32397-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fitzgerald M. G. The establishment of a normal human population dose-response curve for lymphocytes cultured with PHA (phytohaemagglutinin). Clin Exp Immunol. 1971 Mar;8(3):421–425. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Forbes I. J. Measurement of immunological function in clinical medicine. Aust N Z J Med. 1971 May;1(2):160–170. doi: 10.1111/j.1445-5994.1971.tb02284.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Harris C. Evaluation of tuberculin testing in the elderly. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1967 Sep;15(9):828–837. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1967.tb02439.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Horwitz D. A. Impaired delayed hypersensitivity in systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum. 1972 Jul-Aug;15(4):353–359. doi: 10.1002/art.1780150406. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lucas C. J., Brouwer R., Feltkamp T. E., ten Veen J. H., van Loghem J. J. Measles antibodies in sera from patients with autoimmune diseases. Lancet. 1972 Jan 15;1(7742):115–116. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(72)90679-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rowley M. J., Mackay I. R. Measurement of antibody-producing capacity in man. I. The normal response to flagellin from Salmonella adelaide. Clin Exp Immunol. 1969 Oct;5(4):407–418. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Straus B., Berenyi M. R., Huang J. M., Straus E. Delayed hypersensitivity in alcoholic cirrhosis. Am J Dig Dis. 1971 Jun;16(6):509–516. doi: 10.1007/BF02235541. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Whaley K., Glen A. C., MacSween R. N., Deodhar S., Dick W. C., Nuki G., Williamson J., Buchanan W. W. Immunological responses in Sjogren's syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Exp Immunol. 1971 Dec;9(6):721–732. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Ziff M. Viruses and the connective tissue diseases. Ann Intern Med. 1971 Dec;75(6):951–958. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-75-6-951. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Experimental Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES