Loss of suppressor T cell function and circulating immune complexes in alcoholic cirrhosis

In the present work Concanavalin-A-induced T suppressor function has been studied in 28 patients with active alcoholic cirrhosis and 22 patients with inactive cirrhosis. Control subjects were 14 alcoholics without liver disease and 70 healthy individuals with normal liver function tests. Suppressor T cell function was decreased in active alcoholic cirrhosis whereas this change was not observed in inactive cirrhosis nor in alcoholics without liver disease. The suppressor T cell activity of normal individuals was inhibited by heat-inactivated serum pretreatment of patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. The data suggest that there is some kind of serum factor in alcoholic cirrhosis able to affect lymphocyte suppressor activity. No linear correlation could be established between serum level of circulating immune complexes (CIC), determined by solid-phase C1q-binding assay, and suppressor T cell function. There were no differences between sera of alcoholic cirrhosis patients with or without CIC regarding their inhibition of suppressor T cell activity of normal individuals. These results suggest that these serum factors are not related to the presence of CIC.