Patients with hepatic cirrhosis: altered lymphocyte response to mitogens and its relation with plasmatic zinc, albumin and transferrin.

Patients with alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis have a higher predisposition to acquiring infections than healthy individuals, suggesting an alteration in the immune system. They also exhibit an important decrease in certain plasmatic constituents such as zinc, albumin, and transferrin which are involved in the normal immune response. The blastoid transformation of lymphocytes stimulated in vitro with phytohemagglutinin M and P in patients with alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis was studied and the results were correlated with the plasmatic constituents aforementioned. The rate of blastoid transformation was significantly lower (p < .001) in these patients when compared to the control group, but did not correlate directly with the concentration of zinc, albumin, transferrin or circulating globulins. Patients' plasma significantly inhibited the response of normal cells to stimulation with phytohemagglutinin and Concanavalin A; nevertheless, the blastoid transformation of lymphocytes in these patients was not restored to normal levels when incubated with control plasma.