Cellular and humoral responses in amoebic patients.

Cell-mediated immune response (CMIR) and humoral antibody response was studied in fifteen patients with amoebic liver abscess, five patients with amoebic colitis and fifteen patients with non-amoebic diseases which served as unexposed controls. CMIR as judged by macrophage migration inhibition factor (MIF) test was altered in amoebic patients and more so in amoebic liver abscess patients; it was normal in unexposed controls. This altered CMIR reverted back to normal levels within five to seven days after the initiation of drug therapy. There was no clear-cut correlation between CMIR and humoral antibody response although by and large the degree of macrophage migration inhibition and humoral antibody titres were high in patients with amoebic liver abscess. It is thus felt that CMIR is altered in amoebic patients during the acute phase and is independent of humoral antibody response.