Diminished autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction in patients with Hodgkin disease: evidence for non-T cell dysfunction.

In the autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction (AMLR), T lymphocytes are stimulated to proliferate by autologous non-T mononuclear cells. In five untreated patients with Hodgkin disease, the AMLR was diminished. In addition, in the same five patients, T cell response PHA was inhibited by a cell in the non-T cell fraction, the response of non-T cells to PWM was diminished, and there was a diminished ability of the non-T cell population to stimulate in allogeneic MLR. However, the response of T cells from patients with Hodgkin disease to allogeneic antigen was normal. The AMLR and allogeneic MLR were then studied in an additional five untreated patients before and after monocyte depletion of the stimulating non-T mononuclear cell population. In this second group of Hodgkin disease patients, the AMLR was again diminished when T cells were incubated either with non-T cells or non-T cells depleted of monocytes. In the Hodgkin patients, monocyte depletion did not alter the T cell response in the AMLR. In the controls, monocyte depletion greatly diminished the proliferative response. The diminished AMLR in untreated Hodgkin disease patients may be the result of a failure of adequate monocyte stimulation of autologous T cells.