Abstract
Recipients of allogeneic BMT demonstrate a clinically. significant deficiency of cellular immunity after BMT. One in vitro abnormality is defective T lymphocyte blastogenesis to stimulation with mitogens and antigens. Two explanations for this defect are either an absence of cells capable of responding to these stimuli or an absence of cells capable of producing IL-2, the major lymphokine responsible for the clonal expansion of T lymphocytes. We studied the proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from recipients of BMT to both mitogens and antigens. Cells were incubated in the presence and absence of highly purified recombinant IL-2 from E.coli. The addition of IL-2 at concentrations ranging from 10 U/ml to 100 U/ml resulted in an improved blastogenic response to mitogens whenever a less than optimal response was obtained without IL-2. The results with antigens varied according to the elapsed time since BMT. Cells from patients less than one month from BMT did not respond to antigen either in the absence or presence of exogenous IL-2. However, IL-2 at concentrations ranging from 1 U/ml to 10 U/ml did restore the T lymphocyte proliferative response to antigens in patients who were greater than one month post BMT. We conclude that in the first month post BMT lymphocytes capable of responding to mitogens are present, but that IL-2 producing cells are decreased. Lymphocytes capable of responding to antigen first appear one month Dost BMT, but defective IL-2 production can persist for many months.
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Lenarsky, C., Weinberg, K., Petersen, J. et al. INTERLEUKIN 2 (IL-2) RESTORATION OF DEFECTIVE IN VITRO LYMPHOCYTE PROLIFERATION FOLLOWING BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION (BMT). Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 313 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00878
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00878