Faculty Bibliography

A child diagnosed at birth as deficient in red blood cell adenosine deaminase (ADA) but with substantial residual lymphocyte ADA has been evaluated for two and one-half years. The only immunologic abnormality observed was hypogammaglobulinemia during the fifth month of life. This was unexpected because children with total ADA deficiency either have severe combined immunodeficiency or selectively greater impairment of cellular than humoral immunity. The absence of severe combined immunodeficiency in this child was associated with normal lymphocyte content of ATP, dATP, and cyclic 3'5'-adenosine monophosphate, potentially toxic metabolites which are elevated in ADA-deficient immunodeficient children

The responses of seronegative adults to two live attenuated rubella virus vaccines were compared. Of 50 women who received the HPV-77-DE5 strain, 49 (98%) had an antibody response; the geometric mean antibody titer (GMT) was 1:38 at two to five months and 1:59 at six to 14 months. Of 66 women and three men who received the RA 27/3 strain all (100%) had an antibody response; the GMT was 1:55 at two to five months and 1:75 at six to 14 months. The incidence of mild to moderate transient clinical reactions, occurring in approximately one-fourth of those vaccinated, was similar for both groups. The serologic response to both vaccines was excellent

Lithium, an adenylate cyclase inhibitor, stimulates a variety of in vitro indices of immune function, including proliferation of lymphocytes in response to mitogens, rosette formation by T-cells and phagocytosis by macrophages. Lithium enhances these immunologic responses at concentrations comparable to those achieved in patients receiving lithium for treatment of manic-depressive disorders. Lithium may prove to have important therapeutic applications as an immune adjuvant, particularly in immune deficiency states associated with excessive C-AMP production