Studies on pokeweed mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation in viral hepatitis.

Lymphocyte reactivity to pokeweed mitogen (PWM) was examined in patients with acute viral hepatitis type B and in patients with chronic aggressive hepatitis etiopathogenically linked with hepatitis type B virus (HBV). The proportion of cells containing immunoglobulins in their cytoplasm was normal in PWM-stimulated lymphocyte cultures, originating from patients at an acute stage of viral hepatitis but was significantly lowered in the cases of chronic hepatitis. The findings were interpreted as a result of long term in vivo induction of lymphocyte proliferation which would restrict the in vitro reactivity of the lymphocytes to PWM.