Lymphocyte Subpopulations in Patients With Acute Brucellosis

The aim of this work was to evaluate changes in lymphocyte subpopulations, especially helper and cytotoxic T cells, in acute brucellosis patients undergoing treatment. Forty-three acute brucellosis patients were included in the study. Twenty healthy subjects served as controls. Total lymphocytes and the CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+ and CD (16+56)+ subpopulations were counted by two-color flow cytometric analysis. The CD4+ counts in patients before and after treatment were not statistically different (p = 0.7), but healthy subjects had significantly more of these cells (p = 0.001 and p = 0.001 compared to pre- and post-treatment patients, respectively). The CD8+ counts in acute brucellosis patients decreased after treatment (p = 0.004), but remained higher in both pre- and post-treatment samples than in healthy subjects (p = 0.001 and p = 0.01 respectively). Neither the total leukocyte counts nor the numbers of cells in any subpopulation correlated with blood culture results (positive or negative). No statistically significant differences in the patients' CD4+ T cell counts were observed between the pre-and post-treatment periods, and the count was higher in healthy subjects. Counts of CD8+ T cells increased in acute brucellosis patients, and although they decreased after treatment they remained higher than in the controls. In view of this increase, it was concluded that CD8+ T cells could be the major component in immunity against brucellosis.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

lymphocyte subpopulations, brucellosis, treatment

Lymphocyte Subpopulations in Patients With Acute Brucellosis

Keywords:

lymphocyte subpopulations, brucellosis, treatment,

PDF

___

Young Brucella species. Mandel GL, Bennet JE, Dolin R EJ. (editors). In: Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. Fifth ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone 2386-93, 2000. 2. Oliveira SC, Harms JS, Rech EL et al. The role of T cel subsets and cytokines in the regulation of intracellular bacterial infection. Braz J Med Biol Res 31: 77-84, 1998
Golding B, Scott DE, Scharf O et al. Immunity and protection against Brucella abortus. Microbes Infec 3: 43-8, 2001.
Cheers C. Pathogenesis and cellular immunity in experimental murine brucellosis. Dev Biol Stand 56: 237-46, 1984.
Araya LM, Elzer PH, Rowe GE et al. Temporal development of protective cell-mediated and humoral immunity in BALB/c mice infected with Brucella abortus. J Immunol 143: 3330-7, 1989.
Fernandes DM, Benson R, Baldwin CL. Lack of a role for natural killer cells in early control of Brucella abortus 2308 infections in mice. Infect Immun 63: 4029-33, 1995.
Oliveira SC, Splitter GA. CD8+type 1 CD44hi CD45 RBloT lymphocytes control intracellular Brucella abortus infection as demonstrated in major histocompatibility complex class I- and class II-deficient mice. Eur J Immunol 25: 2551–7, 1995. 8. Moreno-Lafont MC, Lopez-Santiago R, Paredes-Cervantes V et al. Activation and proliferation of T lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with brucellosis. Arch Med Res 34: 184-93, 2003.
Gazapo E, Gonzalez Lahoz J, Subiza JL et al. Lymphocyte subpopulations in the evolution of brucellosis. Rev Clin Esp 186: 369-73, 1990.
Ko Jinkyung, Splitter GA. Molecular host-pathogen interaction in brucellosis: Current understandin and future development for mice and humans. Clin Mic Rev 16: 65-8, 2003.
Hoffmann EM, Houle JJ. Contradictory roles for antibody and complement in the interaction of Brucella abortus with its host. Crit Rev Microbiol 21: 153–63, 1995.