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Biomedical subjects

N R Rowell

Publications and source records attributed to N R Rowell.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

Thymus-dependent (T) lymphocyte deficiency in progressive systemic sclerosis.

Circulating thymus-dependent (T) lymphocytes were estimated in twenty-seven patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) and in forty-five normal controls using the property of T lymphocytes to form rosettes with sheep red blood cells. The patients with PSS were found to have a reduction of T lymphocytes which correlated with the extent of visceral involvement by the disease, those with the lowest counts having the most extensive disease. These findings support the suggestion that immunological factors may be involved in the pathogenesis of PSS.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

The prognosis of systemic sclerosis.

Eighty-four patients with systemic sclerosis have been investigated and observed at intervals for up to 15 years. The prognosis is worse in males than in females although in any individual case the clinical course is unpredictable. Those patients with the combination of calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, sclerodactyly and telangiectasia have the same degree of systemic involvement and the same prognosis as other patients with systemic sclerosis, and the term 'CRST syndrome' should be abandoned.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Relationship of phytohaemagglutinin-induced lymphocyte transformation to disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Phytohaemagglutinin-induced lymphocyte transformation was studied in 19 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in relation to disease activity, peripheral blood lymphocyte count, serum iron and folate levels, and corticosteroid treatment. Similar studies were performed on a group of 28 age- and sex-matched controls and on 10 patients with facial palsy who were examined before and after 7 days of high-dose corticosteroid treatment. The patients with SLE were found to have an impairment of lymphocyte transformation which was most marked in active stages of the disease and associated with a lymphopenia. This depressed transformation, which improved with the development of a remission, could not be attributed to the effects of corticosteroid treatment, inhibitory serum factors, iron deficiency, or any numerical reduction in blood lymphocytes, thus indicating along with evidence from other sources that SLE patients have a defect of cell-mediated immunity. The aetiological implications of these findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

The modifying effect of autologous serum on leukocyte migration inhibition by liver antigens in systemic lupus erythematosus.

The leukocyte migration test was used to examine patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) for evidence of cell-mediated immunity to human liver microsomes and mitochondria. Testing of both these antigens with leukocytes from patients was carried out simultaneously in culture medium enriched by either 20% fetal bovine serum (the standard test) or substituted 20% autologous serum. Normal controls showed little or no reactivity in the standard test whereas the SLE group revealed a high incidence of significant leukocyte migration inhibition to both antigens which, however, was considerably reduced by the substitution of autologous serum. The results suggest that the sera of patients with SLE contain factor(s) capable of blocking the in vitro expression of cell-mediated immunity to human tissue antigens. These factor(s), if active in vivo, might have a role in controlling some of the auto-immune manfestations of the disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Immunohistological studies, with anti-connective tissue and anti-immunoglobulin antisera, of the skin in lupus erythematosus and scleroderma.

Skin lesions from six patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, five patients with discoid lupus erythematosus, twelve patients with systemic sclerosis, five patients with localized morphoea and twenty controls were examined by immunohistological techniques using fluorescein-labelled anti-human IgG, anti-human C3 and anti-human renal glomerulus antisera. The major immunohistological changes in systemic sclerosis and in localized morphoea consisted of foci of intercollagenous staining for connective tissue antigens in the reticular layer of the dermis. It is suggested that these findings indicate collagen neogenesis. In lupus erythematosus the major changes occur in the dermo-epidermal junction and consist of deposits of IgG and C3 and thickening and disruption of the membrane as demonstrated by the use of heterologous sera containing antibasement membrane antibodies. Immunohistological techniques are useful in the diagnostic differentiation between scleroderma and lupus erythematosus.

Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic↗