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SECRETION OF IMMUNOGLOBULINS AND IgM RHEUMATOID FACTOR BY POKEWEED MITOGEN‐INDUCED BLOOD LYMPHOCYTES: AN EVALUATION BY PLAQUE FORMING CELL ASSAYS
Author(s) -
HEILMANN C.,
PETERSEN J.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
acta pathologica microbiologica scandinavica series c: immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0108-0202
DOI - 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1984.tb00102.x
Subject(s) - pokeweed mitogen , medicine , rheumatoid factor , immunoglobulin m , antibody , titer , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , immunology , rheumatoid arthritis , secretion , immunoglobulin g , in vitro , endocrinology , gastroenterology , biology , biochemistry
The numbers of pokeweed mitogen (PWM)‐induced IgM‐, IgG‐ and IgA‐secreting cells (SC) in mononu‐clear cell cultures from patients with seropositive and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were reduced compared to those of control persons. Significant numbers of IgM rheumatoid factor (RF)‐SC were only found in PWM‐induced cultures from patients with seropositive RA (median: 7 IgM RF‐SC/ 10‘) and controls > 50 years (median: 6 IgM RF‐SC/10“). The ratio of IgM RF‐SC to total IgM‐SC (RF/IgM‐SC ratio) was significantly higher in patients with seropositive RA (median: 0.6%) than in controls > 50 years (median: 0.1%). Patients with seropositive RA and RF/IgM‐SC ratios above 0.5% had higher Waaler‐Rose titers than those with ratios under 0.5%. Our results indicate that secretion of lg by PWM‐induced blood lymphocytes is suppressed in patients with RA compared to controls; in seropositive RA a higher fraction of in vitro activated IgM‐SC secrete IgM RF as compared to controls and patients with seronegative RA.