Selective blockade of the antigen-receptor-mediated pathway of T cell activation in patients with impaired primary immune responses.

S C Meuer; M Hauer; P Kurz; K H Meyer zum Büschenfelde; H Köhler

doi:10.1172/JCI113129

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Published in Volume 80, Issue 3 on September 1, 1987
J Clin Invest. 1987;80(3):743–749. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI113129.
© 1987 The American Society for Clinical Investigation

Published September 1, 1987 - Version history

We investigated impaired cellular immune responses of individuals on chronic hemodialysis by using monoclonal antibodies that trigger differential pathways of T cell activation. Reduced cellular reactivity, which exists in a high proportion of such patients, can be attributed to a failure of the monocyte population to support the process of primary T cell activation in vitro. This defect results in a lack of interleukin 2 production, which is critically dependent on a monocyte-derived signal. In contrast, T lymphocyte function was found to be physiologic. Perhaps more important, the degree of monocyte dysfunction in vitro correlated with the same patients' in vivo responses to hepatitis B vaccination. Addition of recombinant human interleukin 2 fully reconstituted their deficient immune response in vitro.