Nicotine induces T-suppressor cells: modulation by the nicotinic antagonist D-tubocurarine and myasthenic serum.
Ключові слова
Анотація
To further unravel the basic immunoregulatory defect present in myasthenia gravis, we undertook to study nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AchR) activity on human peripheral blood leukocytes. A biphasic suppressive effect of nicotine was observed on lymphocyte proliferative responses to phytohemagglutinin, concanavalin A, and pokeweed mitogen with peaks at 10(-9) and 10(-5) M. Using a coculture approach, T cells preincubated with nicotine for 24 hr showed enhanced suppressor cell activity. This was partially blocked by serum from myasthenic patients and by the nicotinic antagonist d-tubocurarine. These studies suggest that suppressor T lymphocytes bear functional nicotinic AchR, which may be modulated by myasthenic serum, with possible relevance to the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis.