Humoral and cellular immunity in the anergic tuberculosis patient: A prospective study

SJ Zeitz, JH Ostrow, PP Van Arsdel Jr - Journal of Allergy and Clinical …, 1974 - Elsevier
Six of 458 patients with active tuberculosis were anergic by skin test at the time of diagnosis.
In 5, no cause for anergy could be identified. All 5 had precipitating antibodies to
tuberculoprotein; and their lymphocytes responded poorly in culture to phytohemagglutinin
and not at all to tuberculoprotein. During treatment, humoral antibody titers dropped, skin
tests became positive, and lymphocyte reactivity in culture approached that of positive
control subjects. The response of lymphocytes from patients with active tuberculosis and …