Production of human antithyroglobulin in vitro, IV. Specific stimulation by antigen.

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients whose serum contains antithyroglobulin are capable of producing antithyroglobulin (anti-Tg) in vitro when stimulated with insolubilized Tg and suboptimal amounts of pokeweed mitogen. Antigen stimulation of anti-Tg production was demonstrated in 6 of 10 experiments in which a 1:10,000 dilution of pokeweed mitogen was also included. Larger concentrations of antigen appeared to inhibit anti-Tg synthesis. Regulation of antigen-stimulated anti-Tg production by the patients' T cells was not different from regulation by the T cells of normal subjects. Both T help and T suppression of antigen-induced antibody synthesis was demonstrated with patients' T cells. These experiments continue to provide evidence that production of the autoantibody anti-Tg is related to an abnormality of B cells.