ABSTRACT
The study included three groups of children: (a) 38 with active rheumatic fever (ARF) and active carditis; 21 seen during their first attack and 17 during recurrence of activity, (b) 47 with inactive rheumatic fever (IARF); the period since activity was less than 3 years in 31 cases and more than 3 years in 16 cases. Using monoclonal antibodies and T lymphocyte blast transformation induced by PHA, we found: (1) low total T lymphocytes, helper-inducer cells and helper-inducer/suppressor-cytotoxic ratio which persisted for years; and (2) reduced lymphoblast transformation in active disease.
Subject(s)
Rheumatic Fever/immunology , T-Lymphocytes/immunology , Adolescent , Antibodies, Monoclonal , Child , Female , Humans , Leukocyte Count , Lymphocyte Activation , Male , Myocarditis/immunology , Recurrence , Rheumatic Heart Disease/immunology , T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/immunology , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/immunologyABSTRACT
Peripheral blood lymphocytes from 42 unrelated Egyptian patients with tuberculosis and 156 healthy persons were HLA phenotyped for the A,B and DR loci using the NIH lymphocytotoxicity tests. Statistical analysis of the results showed that A2 and B5 had significantly increased frequencies among patients with tuberculosis compared with the controls. Patients with A2 had more severe disease than did patients without A2 and the number with B5 antigen was less than those without the antigen. This observation suggests that A2 and B5 may influence susceptibility to tuberculosis, but not the course of the disease. Furthermore, a linkage disequilibrium was found between A2 and B5 antigen among tuberculous patients, but their association bore no relation to the severity of the disease.
