Immunological Deficiency Diseases (Part 1 of 4)

Role of the Thymus and Other Central Lymphoid Tissues in Immunological Disease

“…As the disease progres ses, patients with Hodgkin's disease may become lymphopenic and their circulating lymphocytes have been shown to respond poorly to stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (187)(188)(189). On the other hand, circulating immuno globulins are usua i ly normal and antibody responsiveness may be normal as well (190)(191)(192)(193)(194)(195)(196)(197)(198). However, primary antibody responses to certain antigens may be less vigorous than normal, a finding very similar to that of neonatally thymectomized animals.…”

“…However, primary antibody responses to certain antigens may be less vigorous than normal, a finding very similar to that of neonatally thymectomized animals. Apparently as a consequence of the thymus system deficiency, patients with Hodgkin's disease are unduly susceptible to infec tions and in particular to infections with viruses, Gram-negative bacteria, and fungi (193,199). They do not have such inordinate susceptibility to pneumococci and infections with other extracellular pyogenic pathogens although they are not entirely free of such infections.…”

“…Many of the comments on Hodgkin's disease apply as well to sarcoidosis, another lymphoreticular disease of unknown etiology, in which deficiencies of function of the thymus-dependent system have been defined without a parallel decline in immunoglobulin-producing capacity [see (193)]. Besides the histopathologic differences, sarcoidosis also differs from Hodgkin's disease in that recovery is common.…”

Relations between Immunity and Malignancy

“…My own relationship to this postulate derived from the fact that I, a former student and colleague of Thomas, was heavily engaged at the time in studying the nature of the immunologic deficit in patients suffering from primary and secondary forms of immunodeficiency diseases (5). A (14).…”

“…We looked at this question and confirmed Schier's findings (19). We then showed that anergy often progresses with progression of the disease (20), extends to a frequent deficiency in vigor of skin allograft rejections (21), and cannot readily be corrected by giving leukocytes from normal sensitive donors (5,15,19,(21)(22)(23) Before we studied the immune responses, immunoglobulin concentrations and lymphoid tissues of patients with ataxiatelangiectasia, this disease was considered primarily to be a neurological disorder (29)(30)(31). This disease, however, is featured by an association of progressive cerebellar ataxia, telangiectases of the sclera and skin, especially the skin of the eyelids, anticubital, and'popliteal regions.…”