Immunoprofile studies in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. I. Correlation of pretherapy cellular tests with characteristics of the disease.

Cell immunity profiles were determined in 46 patients with previously untreated pulmonary tuberculosis, confirmed bacteriologically, and in 21 blood donors. Evaluations were made of T-lymphocytes, blastic transformation of lymphocytes after stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin or tuberculoprotein, and migration inhibition of blood leukocytes stimulated by tuberculo-protein. The average proportion of T-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood was significantly diminished in the group of tuberculous patients, and the intensity of the decline correlated both with age and extent of the disease. Similarly, migration of leukocytes in tuberculous patients was, in the presence of tuberculoprotein, markedly inhibited. The inhibition was correlated to the extent of the disease, expressed as the number of bacilli excreted. It can be concluded that, despite the depression of immunocompetent cells, active daughter clones under the influence of a specific antigen are capable of producing a factor conditioning migration inhibition.