MITOGEN-INDUCED HYPERPROLIFERATION RESPONSE OF PERIPHERAL-BLOOD MONONUCLEAR-CELLS FROM PATIENTS WITH SEVERE GENERALIZED PERIODONTITIS - LACK OF CORRELATION WITH PROPORTIONS OF T-CELLS AND T-CELL SUBSETS

Severe generalized periodontitis (SGP) is a localized inflammatory disease which differs clinically from common periodontitis in that it leads to remarkable extensive alveolar bone loss in relatively young adults. There is evidence that B cell responses to bacterial substances may play a major role in the pathogenesis of this disease. A B cell mitogen from Actinomyces viscosus (AVIS) bacteria provokes a hyperproliferation response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) from these patients. AVIS-stimulated PBMNC from SGP patients proliferate for longer periods in culture than do PBMNC from control subjects. There were no differences between patients and controls in the numbers of Ig-secreting cells in these cultures as determined by an indirect plaque-forming cell assay. The possibility that differences in numerical proportions of regulatory T cell subsets may play a role in the mitogen-induced hyperproliferation phenomenon is examined. PBMNC were stained with fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated monoclonal antibodies OKT3, OKT4 and OKT8 to identify, respectively, total T cells, helper/inducer and suppressor/cytotoxic subsets. Flow cytometric analysis of such specifically stained cell preparations from 14 control subjects and 14 SGP patients did not reveal any significant differences between the proportions of total T cells or T cell subsets of the 2 groups. There were no statistically significant correlations between the magnitude of proliferation responses and the proportions of total T cells or either of the T cell subsets.