Comparison of lymphocytes forming stable E-rosettes generated in vivo and in vitro

Stable E-rosette forming cells from peripheral blood of patients with acute type B hepatitis and from human thymus were compared with respect to buoyant density and FclgG receptors to stable E-rosette forming lymphocytes generated during culture of normal peripheral blood lymphocytes with concanavalin A. Stable E-rosette forming lymphocytes from patients were distributed in the same high density region of discontinuous bovine serum albumin density gradients as thymus stable E-rosette forming cells but thymus cells did not have FclgG receptors. 5-21% of normal peripheral blood lymphocytes formed stable E-rosettes after culture with concanavalin A but they were found in all densilty fractions. 6-29% of these lymphocytes had receptors for FclgG. The ability to form stable E-rosettes may be a marker for a subset of peripheral blood lymphocytes able to suppress immunological responses.