Rosette inhibition test in chronic liver disease

A role has recently been assigned to cell-mediated immunity in chronic liver diseases in addition to the well-known alterations of humoral immunity. We now report the results of the rosette inhibition test for the evaluation of T-lymphocyte "sensitization" in patients with different chronic liver disorders. A cell-mediated immune reaction was found in 81% of patients with chronic active hepatitis and in 71% with primary biliary cirrhosis, whereas patients with chronic persistent hepatitis showed no reaction. The correlation with the incidence of hepatitis B antigen showed that T-lymphocyte sensitization was more frequent in the group of HB-positive patients. Finally, improvement of the test was observed in four out of nine patients given immunosuppressive treatment.

A modified rosette inhibition test in renal allotransplantation

The rosette inhibition test, with a modification of the technique which enables highly accurate marking of T lymphocytes, has been employed in the followup of 55 renal transplant patients. The minimal inhibitory concentration of antilymphocyte globulin (that is, that concentration of antilymphocyte globulin causing 25% inhibition of rosette formation) was higher than 1:16,000 in 63 (97%) of 65 separate determinations made during acute rejection episodes, and lower than 1:16,000 in 377 (92%) of 410 determinations after which no clinical evidence of rejection developed. The results presented in this paper indicate that this modified test is a useful tool either to predict the occurrence of or to confirm the diagnosis of rejection.