Humoral and cellular immunity in atopic eczema

Parameters of humoral and cellular immunity were measured in thirty-five patients with atopic eczema. The mean serum IgE level was raised but levels of the other major immunoglobulin classes were normal. Ten per cent of patients failed to respond to tetanus immunization. All patients responded to S. typhi H antigen. Fourteen per cent of patients failed to mount delayed hypersensitivity reactions to a battery of three intradermal antigens. The phytohaemagglutinin-stimulated uptake of 3H thymidine by lymphocytes was normal in the presence of autologous or of fetal calf serum, as was the spontaneous lymphocyte uptake. T and B lymphocyte numbers in the peripheral blood were normal. These results are similar to those found in asthmatic patients and support the hypothesis that, in some patients, atopic eczema is associated with an immunodeficiency state.