Tosato G, Straus S, Henle W, Pike S E, Blaese R M
J Immunol. 1985 May;134(5):3082-8.
We evaluated immune functions in 16 patients with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection (chronic infectious mononucleosis). Chronic infectious mononucleosis is an illness characterized primarily by chronic and occasionally disabling fatigue and other constitutional complaints, only sometimes beginning with an episode of acute infectious mononucleosis, and associated with an abnormal pattern of serum antibodies to EBV. In these patients, the frequency of circulating EBV-infected B cells that manifested spontaneous outgrowth in vitro was comparable to that found in EBV-seropositive normals, and the levels of EBV-specific suppressor activity were also normal. Upon stimulation with polyclonal activators, unseparated cells from these patients produced a relatively normal number of immunoglobulin-secreting cells. However, when purified T cells from these patients were mixed with normal mononuclear cells in co-culture, immunoglobulin production was strikingly suppressed. The degree of this T cell suppression correlated directly with the abnormally elevated titer of antibody to the early antigens of EBV. Interestingly, during normal convalescence from acute EBV-induced infectious mononucleosis a period is also seen during which T cells suppress the response of allogeneic but not autologous cells. Thus, from an immunologic viewpoint, patients with chronic active EBV infection appear "frozen" in a state typically found only briefly during the convalescence from acute EBV infection.
我们评估了16例慢性活动性爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）感染患者（慢性传染性单核细胞增多症）的免疫功能。慢性传染性单核细胞增多症是一种主要以慢性且偶尔导致功能障碍的疲劳及其他全身不适为特征的疾病，仅有时始于急性传染性单核细胞增多症发作，并与针对EBV的血清抗体异常模式相关。在这些患者中，体外表现出自发性生长的循环EBV感染B细胞的频率与EBV血清阳性正常人中的频率相当，且EBV特异性抑制活性水平也正常。在用多克隆激活剂刺激后，这些患者未分离的细胞产生的分泌免疫球蛋白的细胞数量相对正常。然而，当将这些患者的纯化T细胞与正常单核细胞共培养时，免疫球蛋白的产生受到显著抑制。这种T细胞抑制的程度与针对EBV早期抗原的抗体滴度异常升高直接相关。有趣的是，在急性EBV诱导的传染性单核细胞增多症正常恢复期也会出现一个时期，在此期间T细胞抑制同种异体细胞而非自体细胞的反应。因此，从免疫学角度来看，慢性活动性EBV感染患者似乎“停滞”在通常仅在急性EBV感染恢复期短暂出现的一种状态。
