Studies on immunological aberration and its pathogenetic roles in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Part 1. Studies on antilymphocyte antibody

To determine whether antilymphocyte antibody(ALA) of the sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) plays any role in immune dysregulation, I checked the ALA titers in various diseases by the cytotoxicity test and the correlation between titers of ALA and clinical activities of SLE. ALA was detected in 87.5% the total number of SLE patients, in 100% of them during the acute phase, and its frequency and titer were much higher than in other ALA positive diseases. Concerning the relation between ALA titers and several parameters expressing various clinical stages of SLE, I found that titers of ALA were significantly higher in SLE patients with shaggy and diffuse patterns of antinuclear factor(ANF), high anti-ssDNA antibody activities, hypergammaglobulinemia and low complement levels(CH50). These data show a significant correlation between the titers of ALA and clinical activities in SLE; namely the titer of ALA of sera obtained during the acute phase was significantly higher than those of sera obtained during remission. Moreover, anti-T cell antibodies were detected with high frequency in sera from patients with SLE during the acute phase. These data suggest that ALA plays a pathogenetic role in SLE.