Studies on the effects of estrogen on in vitro antibody production in autoimmune liver diseases, including lupoid hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis.

Antibody-forming cells produced by adding trinitrophenylated sheep red blood cells (TNP-SRBC) were induced, when peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal individuals and patients with autoimmune liver diseases, including lupoid hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis, were stimulated in vitro with pokeweed mitogen (PWM). Although antibody responses were significantly augmented by adding estrogen simultaneously with PWM to mononuclear cell cultures prepared from normal individuals and autoimmune liver diseases patients, a significant difference was observed according to the concentrations of estrogen between the normal subjects and patients. These observations suggest that a different responsiveness to the different concentrations of estrogen underlines the immunological abnormalities involved in autoimmune liver diseases, including lupoid hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis.