Synergy in antigen presentation by thyroid epithelial cells and monocytes from patients with Graves' disease.

The present study was undertaken to examine the ability of thyrocytes from Graves' patients to present purified protein derivative (PPD) to autologous peripheral blood T cells. Normal human thyrocytes which were pre-cultured with interferon-gamma were able to induce the proliferation of T cells in response to PPD antigen, but unstimulated thyrocytes failed to do. Thyrocytes from Graves' patients on which HLA-DR antigens were expressed have an ability to induce the proliferation of T cells. Thyrocytes from Graves' patients which were pulsed with PPD antigen for 4 h were capable of stimulating proliferation of the T cells. However, the stimulation index of T cells co-cultured with thyrocytes and PPD were significantly lower than that of T cells co-cultured with monocytes and PPD. Sub-optimal numbers of monocytes which by themselves were unable to support T-cell proliferation synergistically augmented antigen presentation by thyrocytes. These results suggest that cellular interactions among thyrocytes, monocytes and T cells may perpetuate immune or autoimmune responses in thyroid tissues from Graves' patients.