Studies of T lymphocyte function and inhibitory factors in minimal change nephrotic syndrome.

Plasma obtained from patients with MCNS in active stage suppressed the 3H-TdR incorporation of autologous or homologous lymphocytes stimulated with PHA-P and E rosette formation, while plasma from patients in remission did not. The depressed mitogenic response of lymphocytes from patients in the active stage significantly improved when the patient's plasma was substituted for the plasma from inactive MCNS or healthy persons and fetal calf serum. In the preliminary experiment, it was seen that the inhibitory factors were heat stable at 56 degrees C, unadsorbable to charcoal powder and retained in both the permeable and impermeable fractions of collodion bag.