PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Al-Aghbar, M N AU - Alexander, G J AU - Nouri-Aria, K T AU - Neuberger, J AU - Eddleston, A L AU - Williams, R TI - In vitro effect of cyclosporin A on immunoglobulin production and concanavalin A induced suppression in primary biliary cirrhosis. AID - 10.1136/gut.27.3.317 DP - 1986 Mar 01 TA - Gut PG - 317--323 VI - 27 IP - 3 4099 - http://gut.bmj.com/content/27/3/317.short 4100 - http://gut.bmj.com/content/27/3/317.full SO - Gut1986 Mar 01; 27 AB - The in vitro effect of Cyclosporin A on the regulation of immunoglobulin production was investigated in 16 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. A significant improvement in concanavalin A induced suppression of IgG and IgM producing cells was observed after prior incubation of mononuclear cells with 300 ng/ml Cyclosporin A for 30 minutes. No effect was seen on spontaneous or pokeweed mitogen induced immunoglobulin production, nor on con A induced suppression if Cyclosporin A was added after 24 hours. Incubation of mononuclear cells with a variable dose of Cyclosporin A showed an effect only at 250-500 ng/ml. Higher and lower doses had no effect. This dose dependent effect of Cyclosporin A is likely to be related to a differential inhibitory effect on T helper and T suppressor cells and may underlie the clinical benefit being observed in current clinical trials.