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Enhancement of the Autologous Mixed Lymphocyte Reaction in Patients with Chagas' Heart Disease
Autologous mixed lymphocyte reactions (AMLR) were studied in 18 individuals chronically infected with Trypanosoma cruzi. These individuals were further classified into three clinical groups: the asymptomatic indeterminate form (n = 5); the mega disease form (n = 5); and the cardiomyopathy form (n = 8). While patients with mega disease showed a normal proliferative response when compared with normal controls, the indeterminate group showed a lowered response in sharp contrast with the heart disease group, which presented a very high proliferative response to autologous non-T cells. These abnormal AMLR represent direct evidence for an immunoregulatory malfunction which may be involved in the inflammatory cardiac damage in chronic Chagas' disease.