[Influence of injection of cortisone acetate on blast transformation and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity in rabbit (author's transl)].

Inhibition of circulating antibody production by steroids has been repeatedly shown in steroid-sensitive animals such as mice or rabbits. It is well known that after a single injection of 5 mg of cortisone acetate, mouse spleen cells loose their ability to be transformed by B cell mitogens such as lipopolysaccharides or Nocardia water soluble mitogen. Therefore it was of interest to study in the rabbit the influence of cortisone on the reactivity of spleen cells to a B cell mitogen (blast transformation and polyclonal strimulation) and their ability to be cytotoxic in the antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity assay. Our data demonstrate that the cells which mediate such a cytotoxicity are cortisone-resistant whereas the B lymphocytes--which can be transformed and polyclonally activated by these mitogens--are sensitive to cortisone treatment.