Abstract
Studies were performed on the monocyte modulating activities of the serum of patients with granuloma annulare associated with progressive systemic sclerosis. As indicators of monocyte modulation, spreading and aggregation were used. As control sera, normal human sera and the sera of patients with granuloma annulare alone were prepared. Normal human monocytes were incubated with either test serum or control sera. The percentage of spread cells was estimated at 6 hr of incubation and that of aggregated cells was estimated at 24 hr of incubation. The sera of patients with granuloma annulare alone showed significantly higher monocyte-spreading activity and monocyte-aggregating activity than normal human sera. However, the monocyte-spreading activity of the serum of this patient was significantly lower than that of the sera of patients with granuloma annulare alone and there was no significant difference between the monocyte-spreading activity of the serum of this patient and that of normal human sera. In contrast, the monocyte-aggregating activity of the serum of this patient was significantly higher than that of the sera of patients with granuloma annulare alone.
