Interleukin 2 receptor bearing T lymphocytes in patients with chronic liver disease.

We investigated the role of interleukin 2 receptor expression (IL 2R) on T cell in chronic liver disease. IL 2R was determined by analysing T cell surface Tac antigen with anti-Tac, a monoclonal antibody that binds at or near the binding site for IL 2, using a fluorescence-activated cell sorter. The percentage of Tac+ cells in T cell fraction from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in unstimulated cultures was 7.9 +/- 2.1% (+/- SD) in controls. A similar value was obtained in asymptomatic carriers of HBsAg (ASC), in patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH) and liver cirrhosis (LC). Upon stimulatin with recombinant IL 2, there was a small but significant increase in Tac+ cells. The percentages of Tac+ cells in IL 2-stimulated cultures were significantly lower in ASC (P less than 0.01), patients with CAH (P less than 0.01) and LC (P less than 0.05) as compared to controls (16.4 +/- 4.4%). Percentages of Tac+ cells after stimulation with phytohemagglutinin P (PHA-P) in ASC and CAH did not differ from controls (74.9 +/- 5.9%). Only patients with LC showed diminished Tac+ cells (P less than 0.01) compared to controls. During a 4-wk course of recombinant IL 2 therapy, a serial study on 5 HBeAg-positive patients with CAH was done, and the results showed that Tac+ cells were significantly diminished 2 wk (P less than 0.01) and 4 wk (P less than 0.05) after starting therapy in comparison with pretreatment levels in IL 2-stimulated cultures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)