Diminished T lymphocyte proliferative response to polyclonal mitogens in acute brucellosis patients.

T lymphocytes from 21 untreated patients with acute brucellosis were tested for their proliferative response to polyclonal mitogens. The purified T lymphocytes from these patients showed a defective proliferative response to plant lectins and anti CD3 monoclonal antibodies with respect to the response observed in T lymphocytes from 21 healthy controls (p < 0.05). This defective proliferative response was not corrected by the exogenous addition of interleukin-2 or tumor necrosis factors alpha or beta to the culture medium. After antibiotic therapy, the proliferative response to the mitogens in T lymphocytes was found to be similar to that of the healthy controls (p > 0.05), and significantly higher than that found before treatment (p < 0.05). It was concluded that T lymphocytes from acute brucellosis patients have a defective proliferative response to membrane mitogenic signals, which disappears when the patients are cured after antibiotic treatment.