Phytohaemagglutinin-induced cytotoxic effector lymphocyte function in patients with the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS).

Patients with the Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome have immunodeficiency characterized by defective antibody production and clinical anergy. In vitro lymphocyte proliferative responses to non-specific mitogens in these patients, however, are normal. To determine if their anergy might be the result of failure to produce cytotoxic effector lymphocytes, peripheral blood leucocytes were cultured with 51Cr-labelled chicken erythrocyte targets in the presence of PHA. Lymphocytes from patients with the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome had normal PHA induced cytotoxicity responses and this result is discussed in relation to a postulated defect in the afferent limb of the immune response.