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[PHA transformation of coelomocytes of Lubricus terrestris].

This transformation was studied at various concentrations of PHA and during different periods of incubation. The coelomocytes were separated into adhering and non-adhering cells. The adhering cells were separated into trypsin-sensitive and trypsin-resistant. Results have clearly shown (P less than or equal to 0.01) that the coelomocytes do transform to PHA. Only the trypsin-resistant adhering cells (5-10%) having a high phagocytic activity, were capable of inducing the transformation of the non-adhering coelomocytes. None of these sub-populations of coelomocytes did transform alone. These results reinforce the existence in earthworms of a T-cell like function and perhaps receptors similar to those observed in higher vertebrates and confirm the cooperation of two cell types to achieve this activity.

Animals↗

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[Multiple sclerosis: a multi-specific immune deficiency disease].

New immunological data (Brit. med. J., 1976, 1, 183-186) lead us to a fundamental reconsideration of the immunopathological concept of multiple sclerosis (MS). The increased incidence of the infection rate during childhood, the low humoral and cell-mediated immune responses towards many bacterial and viral antigens and the presence of these specific immune deficiencies in a group of doubtful MS cases being at the first bout of the disease, led us to consider MS as a multi-specific immune deficiency disease, possibly having its origin in the genes controlling the immune response to these specific antigens. We now consider MS as being the end result of multi-specific immune deficiencies, which would explain the increased incidence of tonsillectomies, appendicectomies and repeated infections during childhood and the presence of numerous small inflammatory and pyrexic processes, often benign, but susceptible to cause in the target tissue--the central nervous tissue--the demyelinization process which could well be not specific at all. This new optic opens the way to the use of different immunotherapy regimens including transfer factor or whole lymphokines, and stimulation of the immune response with immunological adjuvants rather than immunosuppressive agents used during recent years (like steroids, ACTH) which have an antiinflammatory as well as an immunosuppressive function.

Antibody Specificity↗