[Phenotyping of peripheral memory T cell subsets in cutaneous leishmaniasis]

The heterogenous population of memory T lymphocytes is distinguished based on surface markers and effector functions such as cytokine secretion. Recently, two subsets of memory T cells are defined by expression of chemokine receptor CCR7 and CD45RA designating as "central memory" T cells [TCM] and "effector memory" T cells [TEM]. The objective of this study was to evaluate the phenotype and function of these lymphocytes in healed cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis. The phenotype of lymphocytes were determined in blood samples of 13 volunteers with history of self healing cutaneous leishmaniasis [HCL] and in 6 healthy controls. No significant difference was found in memory T cell subsets between HCL volunteers and healthy controls using flow cytometry. However, following sorting of different memory subsets, a significantly higher proliferation was seen in cells of HCL volunteers comparing to the control group. A significantly higher IFN-gamma response in TEM and a significantly higher IL-2 response in TCM were observed in cell culture of HCL volunteers comparing controls. The responses were elicited when the cells were stimulate with SLA in vitro, it is concluded Leishunania-specific TEM and Leishmania-specific TEM subsets exist in HCL volunteers and since the volunteers with history of CL presumed to be protected against reinfection, it seems that both TCM and TEM play role in the protection against Leishmania infection in these individuals

B-cell lineage study in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis [JIA] is the most common rheumatic disease in children. The exact causes of disease are still poorly understood. It seems that B cells have several functions in JIA, including production of autoantibodies, antigen presentation, production of cytokines, and activation of T cells. Here, we aimed to evaluate B-cell lineage and its precursors in the bone marrow of patients with JIA Twenty consecutive patients with JIA were enrolled in this study. JIA is subdivided into three groups of Pauciarticular, Polyarticular, and Systemic JIA. Bone marrow mononuclear cells were separated. Then we analyzed the immunophenotype of the JIA patients by flow cytometry. After separation, the mononuclear cells were stained specific for B cell lineage [CD10, CD19 and CD20], T cell lineage [CD3] and non specific lineage [CD34, HLA-DR and TdT]. Flow cytometric study of bone marrow showed that JIA patients had low level of CD10, CD19, and CD20.Polyarticular patients had lower level of D10, CD19, and CD20 than pauciarticular JIA patients and systemic onset JIA patients had lower levels than both of them. Decreasing of B cell precursor in bone marrow is one of mechanisms for pathogenesis of JIA and the more decreased B cell precursors in bone marrow are, the worst severity of the disease is. Significant differences in CD10 content of bone marrow were detected between the polyarticular and pauciarticular groups. So, it seems that polyarticular JIA patients had lower percentage of pre B cell stage

CD40 ligand expression on stimulated t-helper lymphocytes in patients with common variable immunodeficiency

Common variable immunodeficiency [CVID] is the most common symptomatic primary antibody deficiency, characterized by reduced serum immunoglobulins levels and increased susceptibility to recurrent pyogenic infections. In this study, we evaluated CD40 ligand expression on stimulated versus unstimulated T-helper lymphocytes of nine Common variable immunodeficient patients in comparison with fifteen normal controls. Phorbol myristate acetate [PMA] and Ionomycin were used to stimulate cells in vitro. After six hours stimulation, the cells were subjected to surface staining with three-color staining procedure. Events were analyzed by flow cytometer, using FloMax software. Results were reported as the percentage of lymphocytes expressing CD markers. We did not find any significant statistical difference in CD40 ligand expression between patients and controls [p>0.05], despite having stimulation documented by CD69 expression as activation marker in each run. The results of this study are in agreement with some other studies, indicating that CD40 ligand expression on stimulated T-helper lymphocytes of Common variable immunodeficiency patients is similar to normal controls

Immunophenotypic subtyping of leukemic cells from Iranian patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: association to disease outcome

Immunophenotypic characterization of the leukemic cells has been widely used as a tool for diagnosis, classification, stratification and prognosis of leukaemia. To investigate the immunophenotypic subtype profiles of Iranian patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL] and its association to disease outcome. In this study, a total of 60 Iranian patients with ALL were immunophenotyped by flow cytometry using a panel of monoclonal antibodies specific for CD2, CD3, CD5, CD10, CD13, CD14, CD19, CD20, CD33, CD34, CD45, HLA-DR and TdT molecules. The samples were initially categorized into T-ALL [n=9], B-ALL [n=50] and mixed lineage [n=1] based on the expression patterns of CD3 and CD19 molecules. B-ALL patients could further be classified into four subtypes, including Pro-B [n=7, 11.7%], Pre-B I [n=28, 46.7%], Pre-B II [n=13, 21.7%] and immature/mature B cells [n=2, 3.3%] on the basis of expression of CD10, CD19, CD20, HLA-DR and TdT. Clinical manifestations and laboratory findings of the patients did not reveal association with immunophenotypic sub-types of ALL, with the exception of mediastinal mass and WBC count at the time of diagnosis which were found to be significantly higher in patients with T-ALL compared with B-ALL [p=0.001 and 0.014], respectively. Our results indicate that overall the immunophenotypic profile of Iranian ALL patients is similar to previous reports and it might be used for monitoring of minimal residual disease and prognosis