T rosettes in alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.

Thirty patients with alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver were studied for in vivo and in vitro correlates of cellular immunity. Seventy-seven percent failed to be sensitized to dinitrochlorobenzene, indicating impairment of the in vivo cellular immune response. A significant decrease in the number of T-rosette-forming cells was observed in this group of patients (.01 smaller than P smaller than .025). This finding suggests that the active T-rosette test is a valuable tool in detecting partial alterations in cell-mediated immunity in alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. Our results also suggest that rosette formation is a more sensitive indicator of cell-mediated immunity than phytohemagglutinin-stimulated blastogenesis in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.