Impaired cell-mediated immunity in focal glomerular sclerosis

Cell-mediated immunity (CMI) was evaluated in 8 patients with focal glomerular sclerosis (FGS), 50 patients suffering from chronic mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis without renal insufficiency and 24 healthy controls. The following parameters were measured: delayed skin reactivity to purified protein derivative, circulating lymphocytes, lymphocyte cell-surface markers (neuraminidase-treated sheep erythrocyte and erythrocyte-antibody-complement rosettes) and functional markers (mitogenic responses to concanavalin A and phytohemagglutinin). The FGS patients with nephrotic syndrome (NS) had a significant depression in CMI, characterized by decreased responses of the lymphocytes to both concanavalin A and phytohemagglutinin, impaired delayed hypersensitivity to purified protein derivative and a decreased proportion of T lymphocytes as compared with normal subjects. In contrast, the levels of all CMI parameters studied in FGS patients in remission and in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis with or without NS did not differ from normal subjects. Thus, the majority of FGS patients with NS demonstrated an impaired response in a CMI assay system. The possible significance of these phenomena in the pathophysiology of FGS is discussed.

Corner cube array COAT

A novel coherent optical adaptive system based on the pistonwise control of an array of corner cubes (CCA-COAT) is presented as phase conjugator. Its performance is analytically examined in detail, and it is numerically compared with that of a segmented-mirror COAT, showing that the CCA-COAT can attain typically a several times larger Strehl ratio when the same number of elements is used. Some basic experimental results indicating its effectiveness are also shown.

Concanavalin-A-induced suppressor cell activity in idiopathic membranous nephropathy

Suppressor cell activity (SCA) was analyzed in 8 patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (MN) and in 11 patients with chronic proliferative glomerulonephritis (CGN). We have assessed the ability of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) stimulated by concanavalin A (Con A) to inhibit the proliferative response on normal allogenic lymphocytes by both Con A and phytohemagglutinin (PHA). It was found that the MN patients with nephrotic syndrome (NS) had significantly increased levels of suppression index (SI) when compared to the values obtained with normal controls. In contrast, the mean suppression values in the PBL from MN patients in remission and CGN patients with or without NS, whether the mitogen used was Con A or PHA, were similar to those of the control subjects. Thus, the majority of MN patients wih NS demonstrated an alteration in Con-A-induced SCA. The possible significance of these phenomena in the pathophysiology of MN is discussed.

Cellular immunity in systemic lupus erythematosus as evidenced in vitro by leucocyte migration inhibition tests

A leucocyte migration inhibition test was performed on 26 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and on 35 control subjects using three different antigens, fetal calf thymus DNA, baker's yeast RNA, and calf thymus extractable nuclear antigen (ENA). Leucocyte migration was inhibited by DNA in 17 out of 26 SLE patients (65-3%), and in only 2 of the 35 controls (5-7%). When RNA or ENA was added none of the patients or controls showed inhibition. In SLE patients migration inhibition by DNA was significantly correlated with the presence of proteinuria and/or granular casts in urinary sediment. When the migration inhibition test was positive, immunofluorescence verified active histology of the glomeruli obtained by a percutaneous renal biopsy.