[Effect of the tumor cell associated glycoconjugate (TCA) derived Kato III, human gastric cancer cells on autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis].

We have been developing a new treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by using intradermal injection of carbohydrate molecule complex. Among them, tumor cell associated glycoconjugate (TCA), the membrane structure of Kato III is one of the effective molecules. We studied the immunomodulatory effect of TCA on the autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction (AMLR) using PWM-mitogen induced lymphoblasts as stimulator cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) as responder cells. In the kinetic study of the AMLR, its maximum proliferation was observed on days five through seven and responding CD4 cells highly expressed HLA-DR antigen. Studied AMLR in 10 patients with RA, proliferative responses of AMLR in these patients were divided into two types, high and low AMLR types. In vitro examination of TCA on AMLR showed that TCA at a concentration of 250 ng/ml significantly suppressed the AMLR response (p less than 0.01, paired T-test) and this phenomenon was found more frequently in high AMLR type patients than in low AMLR type patients. The suppressive effect of TCA on AMLR had a tendency to correlate with the efficacy of TCA therapy in patients studied. These results suggest that TCA may play a role in regulating the function of autoreactive lymphocytes of patients with RA.