In vitro proliferative response to M. leprae and PPD of isolated T cell subsets from leprosy patients.

In vitro proliferative response to Mycobacterium leprae and PPD to T cell subsets, isolated by selective depletion procedure from peripheral blood using OKT4 or OKT8 monoclonal antibodies plus complement, was investigated in leprosy patients. Whole peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) developed a strong proliferative response to both M. leprae and PPD in most tuberculoid patients. This proliferation was confined to T cells, and concerned predominantly OKT4+ cells. Both antigens, however, induced a smaller, but significant proliferation oF OKT8+ cells. In lepromatous patients, proliferative response of whole PBMC incubated with M. leprae was in most cases unsignificant, at variance with PPD-induced proliferation, which was not significantly lower than that of PBMC from tuberculoid patients. In a majority of M. leprae non-responders, neither OKT4+ nor OKT8+ enriched PBMC developed a proliferative response to M. leprae. Unexpectedly in four M. leprae unreactive patients, control treatment of PBMC with complement alone restored a strong proliferative response to M. leprae. Taken together, these results suggest that in vitro unresponsiveness to M. leprae results at least in some patients, from an active suppressor mechanism but that the effector phase of such suppression does not directly involve OKT8+ T cells.