ALTERATIONS IN INTERLEUKIN SECRETION (IL-2 AND IL-4) BY CD4 AND CD4 CD45RO CELLS FROM COMMON VARIABLE IMMUNODEFICIENCY (CVI) PATIENTS

The failure of B cells from CVI patients to secrete normal amounts of antibodies has been attributed either to an intrinsic B cell defect or to a lack of cooperation from T cells. In an attempt to improve the d efinition of the origin of this defect in one of the main cellular com partments, we studied the ability of helper CD4 cells and their CD4 CD 45RO subpopulation from CVI patients to secrete interleukins (IL-2 and IL-4) in response to mitogen stimulation. We found that CD4 and CD4 C D45RO cells from some patients secrete abnormal amounts of interleukin s (in general low levels of IL-2 and high levels of IL-4) upon stimula tion with pokeweed mitogen (PWM). These irregularities may contribute to the defective differentiation of B cells in these patients.