Studies of cell-mediated immunity in human glomerulonephritis by macrophage migration inhibition test

Using the macrophage migration inhibition test (MIT), a total of 113 patients with various renal diseases, namely glomerulonephritis (GN), were studied for evidence of cell-mediated immunity to various soluble antigens prepared. The positive rate of MIT in the presence of streptococcal antigen, glomerular basement membrane antigen, renal tubular epithelial antigen and heat-aggregated IgG antigen was 15, 23, 16 and 15%, respectively. Out of 15 positive patients who were able to be evaluated with those four antigens, 9 cases exhibited cellular hypersensitivity to two or more antigens at the same time. These findings suggest that there is an abnormal cellular response to certain antigen or widespread cell-mediated hypersensitivity to a variety of antigens in certain forms of human GN.