Globulin Synthesis by Human Peripheral Lymphocytes

Abstract

Measurement of globulin synthesis was used to study the activity of human lymphocytes in health and disease. Lymphocytes were obtained from the venous blood by sedimentation and differential centrifugation. They were cultured in medium containing autologous plasma and C14 amino acids as substrate. The conditions of culture were standardized so that results from different patients could be compared. The amount of C14 amino acid incorporated Into serum globulins was used as a measure of globulin synthesis. One parameter measured was the synthetic activity of unstlmulated lymphocytes. The other was the protein synthesizing capacity of the lymphocytes stimulated by phytohemagglutinin (PHA). The normal activity is a basal synthesis by unstlmulated lymphocytes and a substantially increased synthesis by lymphocytes which were cultured in the presence of PHA. Globulin synthesis (as measured by both parameters) was depressed below the normal range in patients with renal failure, aplastic anaemia, chronic lymphatic leukemia, Waldenstrom''s macroglobulinemia, and in patients receiving therapy with immunosuppressive drugs. Two patients who had high rates of globulin synthesis had acute auto-immune disease. Three patients whose lymphocyte lunction was not stimulated by PHA had hypogammaglobulinemia.