Suppress of the increase in free cytosolic calcium during the inhibition of T-cell activation by an autoantibody present in the serum of leprosy patients.

A serum factor, believed to be an IgG autoantibody, in certain patients with lepromatous leprosy inhibits the proliferation of mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes. To investigate which stage of the cell cycle was inhibited, we examined the effect of these sera on the kinetics of lymphocyte activation induced by several mitogenic agents: phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), the calcium ionophore A23187, the phorbol ester phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and purified protein derivative of BCG (PPD). Seven out of 54 sera tested were found to inhibit PHA-stimulated proliferation. Inhibitory sera and to a lesser extent serum IgG from leprosy patients were capable of suppressing the increase in free cytosolic calcium normally observed immediately after PHA stimulation. Subsequent stages of the cell cycle, increase in cell size, the expression of the IL-2 receptor and increase in DNA were also suppressed. The inhibitory sera was not toxic and, if addition of the sera was delayed, would not inhibit lymphocytes that had already entered the cell cycle. Using mitogenic agents which act intracellularly, the normal early increase in cell size with A23187- and PMA-stimulated lymphocytes was not affected by inhibitory leprosy sera or serum IgG, but all subsequent steps in the cell cycle were suppressed; although the inhibition of proliferation in PMA-stimulated cultures was incomplete. The mechanism of action of the inhibitory sera and derived IgG, although acting through a cell surface antigen, appears to interfere with a fundamental process in activation since the effect was seen with all of the diverse stimuli examined in this study.