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The effects of in vitro antigen exposure upon suppressor cell function in atopic disease.

Suppressor cell dysfunction has been suggested as a cause of the heightened IgE responses seen in human atopic disease and allergy immunotherapy has been shown to be associated with the generation of antigen-specific suppressor cells. In an attempt to simulate immunotherapy, the in vitro effects of grass antigen exposure upon non-control subjects were treated with preincubation, concanavalin A or varying concentrations of a crude grass antigen preparation. The effects of the generated suppressor activities upon phytohemagglutinin-induced proliferation of fresh, autologous lymphocytes were measured. All three treatments resulted in significant suppression. There was no over-all difference in suppression between atopic and control groups. However, grass antigen exposure enhanced suppression by cells from atopic subjects (p. 05) but only to levels seen in concanavalin A treated cells from the same individuals. Further, the grass antigen preparation appeared to act in a non-specific fashion, resulting in similar mitogenic responses in cells from atopic and control groups. These findings bring into question the role of non-specific suppressor cells, as currently measured, in the pathogenesis of atopic disease. Allergy immunotherapy with crude antigen preparations likely results in non-specific immunologic perturbations which may enhance or depress its clinically valuable, antigen-specific, effects.