Immunologic changes in HD patients under the effect of chemotherapy

ABSTRACT

The immune status was tested in 51 HD patients at diagnosis and after MOPP chemotherapy and 10 normal controls. Absolute lymphocyte and absolute T cells were slightly lower in pretreated patients compared to controls. Further reduction was observed after chemotherapy that was significantly different from the control values [P values 0.001 and 0.02 respectively]. The T4/T8 ratio of controls was higher than pre and post treated patients being 1.8 +/- 0.28 for patients after therapy. The difference between all groups was highly statistically significant. The absolute level of HNK1 + cells was reduced at diagnosis 263 +/- 245 compared to control 322 +/- 281 but the difference was statistically insignificant. The NHK + cells was elevated after treatment with statistically significant difference compared to pretreated patients [P 0.03] but its level did not reach the normal value. The Leu 11 [CD 11a] positive cells were markedly reduced at diagnosis than normal controls but were elevated after treatment even exceeding the normal values. The immunoglobulins [IgM, IgG and IgA] were reduced at diagnosis than normal controls and even further reduction after treatment, except for elevated IgG levels in patients at diagnosis which may be due to chronic infections. The impaired cell mediated immunity in HD patients tends to be improved by chemotherapy