Density of phenotypic markers on BAL T-lymphocytes in hypersensitivity pneumonitis, pulmonary sarcoidosis and bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia.
Satake N, Nagai S, Kawatani A, Kaneshima H, Tanaka S, Takeuchi M, Izumi T.
2nd Dept of Internal Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan.
In vitro studies have shown that the density of surface antigens reflects the degree of activation of T-cells. We therefore studied the density of surface antigens on T-cells from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and blood in patients with sarcoidosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) and bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP). BALF cells were stained with anti-CD3, anti-CD4, anti-CD8 and anti-human leucocyte antigen-DR(HLA-DR) monoclonal antibodies, and were analysed by cytoflowmetry. The density was evaluated by measuring the Mean Channel fluorescence intensity of the stained cells. The results demonstrated a significant increase in the CD3 density in patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis (108.2 +/- 20.2 MC), compared with those with pulmonary sarcoidosis (51.2 +/- 12.6), BOOP (74.5 +/- 29.3), and healthy controls (57.1 +/- 11.5). Similar results were obtained for the CD4 and CD8 density in patients with HP. Although the number of HLA-DR positive cells was increased, the density was lower in patients with sarcoidosis (57.4 +/- 11.6) and hypersensitivity pneumonitis (57.4 +/- 14.8), than in healthy controls (72.2 +/- 15.1). Comparable changes were not observed in the peripheral blood. These results suggest that T-cell activation in hypersensitivity pneumonitis may be associated with an increase in the CD3, CD4, and CD8 density on BALF T-cells.
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PMID: 8491296 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]