RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Cervical tuberculous lymphadenopathy is a very common disease with a similar incidence to pulmonary tuberculosis. Dendritic cells play a role of initial antigen presentation of this illness. Nevertheless, the precise role of these antigen-presenting cells according to the clinical features in unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical implication of dendritic cell infiltration in the cervical lymph nodes. METHODS: A review of the clinical characteristics was carried out retrospectively based on the clinical records and radiography. Immunohistochemical staining was performed on the available histology specimens of 72 cases using the S-100b polyclonal antibody for dendritic cells. The number of dendritic cells with tuberculous granuloma were determined. A x2 test, unpaired T test and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed. RESULTS: Thirty percent of subjects had previous or concurrent pulmonary TB. Twenty one percent of cases showed a positive reaction on the AFB stain. Within a granuloma, the number of infiltrated dendritic cells was 113.0+/-7.0. The incidence of fever and cough decreased with increasing infiltration of dendritic cells Multivariate regression analysis showed that the infiltration of dendritic cells could significantly contribute to fever. CONCLUSION: Overall, dendritic cells can control a Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and modulate the immune response, as well as resolve the clinical manifestations of TB lymphadenopathy.