Helper and suppressor T lymphocyte function in severe alcoholic liver disease

The immune regulatory T cell status of patients with severe alcoholic liver disease (ALD) was investigated. Using monoclonal antibodies to identify lymphocyte subsets in 22 patients, a significant decrease in the percentage of T suppressor/cytotoxic cells (P less than 0.01) and increase in the percentage T helper/inducer population (P less than 0.05) was observed when the results were compared with 20 normal controls. However, when absolute numbers of these lymphocyte subsets were calculated the patient group did not differ significantly from the controls. Further studies revealed T immunoregulatory cell function to be normal. Concanavalin A induced suppressor cells resulted in equivalent inhibition of autologous cell mitogen responsiveness in the patient and control groups. In addition, purified patient T lymphocytes were demonstrated to provide normal help to and manifest normal suppression of IgG, IgA and IgM synthesis by allogeneic B cells. When spontaneous immunoglobulin synthesis by circulating mononuclear cells was investigated, a significant increase in IgA synthesis was found in the ALD patients (P less than 0.05). These results suggest that T cell immunoregulation is normal in patients with ALD and a defect in this system is not responsible for the increased synthesis of immunoglobulin observed in ALD.