Thyroid autoantibody synthesis by cultures of thyroid and peripheral blood lymphocytes. II. Effect of thyroglobulin on thyroglobulin antibody synthesis.

The influence of antigen (thyroglobulin, Tg) on Tg antibody synthesis has been investigated using cultures of Hashimoto thyroid and peripheral blood lymphocytes. In cultures of thyroid lymphocytes, Tg antibody synthesis was stimulated by a 24h pulse of Tg (10-100 micrograms/ml) and similar results were obtained using spleen lymphocytes from BALB/c mice immunized with human Tg. In contrast, Tg antibody synthesis by Hashimoto peripheral blood lymphocytes was not affected by similar concentrations of Tg (1-240 micrograms/ml) in the presence or absence of pokeweed mitogen (PWM). However, peripheral blood lymphocytes from two out of nine patients produced increased levels of Tg antibody in the presence of very low concentrations of Tg (50 ng/ml). This increase in Tg antibody production was accompanied by a rise in total IgG synthesis indicating that the response to Tg was polyclonal. On the basis of other unusual features of the lymphocyte cultures from these two patients including a relatively small response to PWM and evidence of circulating plasma cells, it is suggested that sufficient numbers of lymphocytes responsive to Tg are only released into the circulation during active phases of the disease process.