CELLULAR IMMUNE-RESPONSE TO FRACTIONATED AVIAN ANTIGENS BY PERIPHERAL-BLOOD MONONUCLEAR-CELLS FROM PATIENTS WITH PIGEON-BREEDERS DISEASE

Pigeon breeder's disease (PBD), a form of hypersensitivity pneumonitis caused by repeated inhalation of antigens of pigeon origin, is charac terized by a diffuse inflammation of the lower respiratory tract, Alth ough a variety of immunologic and nonimmunologic mechanisms have been described in the development of the disease, the pathogenesis is still far from clear. In this study we analyzed the T-lymphocyte proliferat ive response to a variety of avian antigens with use of peripheral blo od mononuclear cells from 11 patients who had PBD and 10 healthy volun teers. We used a new method based on avian antigen-bearing nitrocellul ose particles derived from Western blots to study the T-cell prolifera tive response to 15 antigenic fractions obtained from pigeon serum. Wi th this technique, complex mixtures of antigens can be fractionated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, transferred to nitrocellulose mem branes, and used for T-cell proliferation assays with selected antigen ic determinants. A wide variety of responses were observed, and there were no reproducible patterns of reaction within either group. Nine of 10 healthy subjects responded to some soluble fractions. However, pat ients with PBD displayed the strongest response and responded to a sig nificantly greater number of antigenic fractions. Fraction 2, represen ting a 220 kd molecular weight protein, was the only immunodominant an tigen when both groups were compared; it was recognized by 73% of the patients with PBD and by only 20% of control subjects (p < 0.03). Thes e findings show that T lymphocytes of patients with PBD recognize a wi de range of bird proteins, which induce marked T-cell proliferation.