Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Infect. Immun., 04 1995, 1235-1240, Vol 63, No. 4
F Gambon-Deza, M Pacheco Carracedo, T Cerda Mota and J Montes Santiago
The immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis is mediated by T
lymphocytes. We studied the changes in lymphocyte populations occurring in
peripheral blood, pleural fluid, and ascites during tuberculosis infection.
For this purpose, we compared recent-onset patients (newly converted to
positive Mantoux reactions) with previously diagnosed patients (individuals
with organic lesions). Recent infection was associated with peripheral
blood lymphocytosis involving T lymphocytes expressing either T-cell
receptor alpha/beta or gamma/delta. Lymphocytosis involved both CD4 and CD8
cells. On the other hand, we detected no changes in the distribution of
peripheral blood lymphocyte populations in previously diagnosed patients.
No changes were found in the numbers of B lymphocytes or natural killer
cells in either recently infected or previously diagnosed patients. The
pleural effusion and ascitic fluid samples contained T lymphocytes
expressing T-cell receptor alpha/beta, the majority of which were CD4+.
These lymphocytes showed an inverted CD45RA-to-CD45RO ratio, and we found
high-level expression of the interleukin-2 receptor (CD25) in some
patients. The results are compatible with the existence of periods of cell
activation in the pleural fluid (which are disclosed by the appearance of
the CD25 antigen and the transition of CD45RA expression to CD45RO)
together with nonactivation periods (loss of CD25 and persistence of CD45RO
expression). We studied a fraction of the V beta repertoire in peripheral
blood in both groups and the same fraction of the V beta repertoire in
pleural fluid from patients with tuberculous pleuritis, demonstrating that,
in recently infected subjects, lymphocytosis was produced by the increase
in lymphocytes which expressed some specific V beta subfamilies that
differed from one individual to another. In two of five patients studied,
we found significant changes in the V beta repertoire between lymphocytes
from peripheral blood and the pleural fluid samples.
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology
Lymphocyte populations during tuberculosis infection: V beta repertoires
Unidad de Inmunologia, Hospital do Meixoeiro, Vigo, Spain.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| J. Bacteriol. | J. Virol. | Eukaryot. Cell |
|---|
| Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. | Clin. Vaccine Immunol. | All ASM Journals |
|---|