Autologous rosette formation in systemic lupus erythematosus.

The number of autologous rosette forming cells was studied in patients with SLE. The effect of steroid hormones and of sera derived from SLE patients and normal controls on autologous rosette formation by lymphocytes of SLE patients and of normal controls was examined. The number of T lymphocytes capable of recognizing autologous red cells were found to be significantly lower in the SLE patients than in the group of normal controls. Steroid hormones, whether applied in vivo or in vitro, displayed an inhibitory effect on autologous rosette formation in SLE patients and normal controls alike. The effect in vitro was dose-related, and there was no difference in sensitivity between normal and SLE lymphocytes. Pooled sera of high immunocomplex content obtained from SLE patients were also found to reduce the number of auto-rosettes. Since the lymphocytes capable of recognizing autologous red cells are known to be post-thymic precursor cells equally subject to differentiation in helper and suppression direction and play an important role in the regulatory mechanism, reduction in their number or disturbances in their function and differentiation may well provide one of the factors accounting for the impairment of immune regulation in SLE.