Thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin (TSI) synthesis by pokeweed mitogen (PWM) stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from Graves' disease (GD) patients.

Lymphocytes from freshly diagnosed untreated GD patients can be induced to produce in-vitro IgG, and more precisely TSI in the presence of PWM, a T cell dependent polyclonal activator of B cells. TSI were measured from days 8 to 41 of culture, using a functional cAMP production assay, after the deposition of culture supernatants on HTEC. Spontaneous or PWM induced IgG synthesis was optimal on day 28 of culture for GD MNC, with amounts of IgG in PWM stimulated GD culture supernatants twice those found in unstimulated GD MNC. Moreover only PWM stimulated GD MNC produce IgG which induce cAMP production by cultured HTEC, with a significant correlation between in-vitro IgG and cAMP levels.