Humoral immunity and lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy

Abstract The incidence of serum organ and non-organ specific autoantibodies, the peripheral blood lymphocyte blastogenic response to phytohaemagglutinin, concanavalin A and pokeweed mitogen, and the surface markers of peripheral T and B lymphocytes were studied in 15 patients affected by coronary artery disease and in 21 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. In the latter group there was a significantly impaired blastogenic response to concanavalin A with respect to both the normal control group and patients with coronary artery disease ( P P P These data may reflect an in vivo defect in suppressor cell function in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.