MYOINOSITOL MAY BE A FACTOR IN UREMIC IMMUNE-DEFICIENCY

In 10 chronic uremic patients on regular hemodialysis treatment and 10 healthy subjects in vitro PHA-induced peripheral blood mononuclear ce ll (PBMNC) and T-cell enriched lymphocyte proliferative responses were found to be impaired in the presence of myoinositol in the concentrat ion generally observed in the blood serum of chronic uremic patients o n regular hemodialysis treatment (600 mu mol/l), while it remained unc hanged in the presence of myoinositol in the concentration observed in normal blood serum (30 mu mol/l). However, both myoinositol concentra tions did not affect PMA-induced PBMNC and T-cell enriched lymphocyte proliferative responses, which suggests that inhibitory effect of the high myoinositol concentration on PHA-induced immune cell proliferatio n is cell membrane-related. In addition, myoinositol (600 mu mol/l) si gnificantly depressed CD3, CD4 and HLA-DR antigen expression on PHA-ac tivated PBMNC surface in chronic uremic patients and healthy subjects, while CD8 antigen expression remained unaffected. The results seem to indicate that myoinositol, in the concentrations observed in uremic b lood serum, may possibly share the responsibility for uremic immune de ficiency.