Expression of lymphocytes and its subsets in severe acute respiratory syndrome / 中华检验医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To find a new indicator monitoring severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) by analyzing expression of lymphocytes and its subsets in SARS. Method Flow cytometer and hematology analyzer were used to detect the expression of lymphocytes and its subsets in 38 patients of SARS. Results Decreasing lymphocytes were found in 84 percent of the patients. The absolute value of lymphocyte subsets (T/B cell, NK cell) also decreased in a certain degree. Patients with decreasing T cell were mostly observed (95%). T helper/inducer (T 4)cells showed a higher rate of decreasing (100%) than T suppressor/killer (T 8)cells (87%). Based on the distribution of lymphocytes and its subsets, T cells demonstrated the greatest rate of decreasing (58%). Most patients had a relative normal B cells and NK cells with a rate of decreasing as little as 2.6% and 5.3%, respectively, more patients showed a decreasing T 4 cells (82%) than that of T 8 cells (34%). Forty-four percent of patients demonstrated a low ratio of T 4 to T 8. Conclusion The lymphocytes and its subsets were impaired in SARS, especially for T lymphocytes, T 4 cells were more seriously damaged than T 8 cells. The absolute counts of lymphocyte subsets showed more significant change of immune cells than relative counts of that in SARS.