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Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI111895

Antibody-mediated killing of suppressor T lymphocytes as a possible cause of macroglobulinemia in the tropical splenomegaly syndrome.

W F Piessens, S L Hoffman, A A Wadee, P W Piessens, S Ratiwayanto, L Kurniawan, J R Campbell, H A Marwoto, and L L Laughlin

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Published June 1, 1985 - More info

Published in Volume 75, Issue 6 on June 1, 1985
J Clin Invest. 1985;75(6):1821–1827. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI111895.
© 1985 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published June 1, 1985 - Version history
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Abstract

To investigate the pathogenesis of macroglobulinemia in the tropical splenomegaly syndrome (TSS), we assessed the functional activity of B lymphocytes and T cell subsets in a pokeweed mitogen-driven assay of immunoglobulin synthesis. Mononuclear cells from patients with TSS produced more IgM than cells from village or from distant controls. This appeared to result from a decrease in the number and/or activity of suppressor T cells of the T8+ phenotype. The lack of functional suppressor T lymphocytes was associated with the presence in sera from patients with TSS of IgM antibodies that specifically killed T8+, 9.3-, 60.1+ T cells from normal donors. These results support the hypothesis that macroglobulinemia in TSS results from defective immunoregulatory control of B cell function, and that this may be caused by lysis of suppressor T cells by specific lymphocytotoxic antibodies produced by patients with this syndrome.

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