Depressed effector activity of OKT4+ and OKT8+ T cell subsets in lectin-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity to HEP-2 cells in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

The role of OKT4+ and OKT8+ T cell subsets was studied in depressed lectin-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (LDCC) against adherent HEp-2 target cells by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). LDCC activity was evaluated by detachment from the monolayer of 3H-TdR-prelabelled HEp-2 cells in a 24 hr assay at 50:1 effector-target cell ratio in the presence of 25 micrograms/ml concanavalin A (Con A). Decreased levels of LDCC were performed by all studied effector cell populations of SLE patients, including both OKT4+ and OKT8+ T cell fractions. LDCC by isolated OKT8+ T cells was superior to that by OKT4+ and unfractionated T lymphocytes from all healthy and SLE subjects. This suggests that the defect of LDCC activity in SLE did not affect the inherently higher LDCC effector activity of OKT8+ to OKT4+ cells. In parallel studies a reduced proliferation of PBMC in response to Con A and failure of OKT8+ T cells to suppress Con A-induced blastogenesis was observed in patients with SLE.