A spectrum of lymphocyte responsiveness in human syphilis.

The lymphocyte transformation test was used to assess cell-mediated immunity in thirty-one patients with syphilis. Lymphocytes from patients with sero-negative primary syphilis showed a small response to the Nichols strain of Treponema pallidum which did not differ significantly from that of controls. By contrast, cells from patients with sero-positive syphilis or from patients in the papular secondary stage showed marked stimulation, although those from patients in the macular secondary stage did not. Lymphocytes from patients receiving treatment with antibiotics gave an increased response. Lymphocytes from patients with secondary syphilis did not give as high a response to purified protein derivative of tuberculin as did cells from either patients with primary syphilis or cells from control subjects.