1989 Volume 12 Issue 1 Pages 142-149
The immunological study on a case of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia with the elevation of suppressor T cell activity is presented.
A 73-year-old male was admitted to Ehime University Hospital, because of general malaise and low grade fever. Hematological examination showed pancytopenia and myelogram revealed an increase of mature B cells. Serum immunoelectrophoresis disclosed a marked increase of the monoclonal IgM. A diagnosis of primary macroglobulinemia was made on the basis of these findings.
Two color analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes revealed the excess of CD3+, CD8+, CD11+ and Ia+ lymphocytes that were supposed activated suppressor T cells. The effects of patient's T cells on PWM-induced polyclonal immunoglobulin (Ig) production by B cells were examined. The patient's CD8+ T cells showed marked suppressor activity for Ig production by B cells from a normal individual. On the other hand, the amount of Ig secreted by the coculture of patient's B cells and normal T cells was not decreased.
The results of these phenotypic and functional studies suggested that the impaired production of normal Ig in this case was due to the activated suppressor T cells.
