Phenotypic characterization of immature lymphoid cells in human umbilical cord blood

Haematogones in the peripheral blood of adults: a four-colour flow cytometry study of 102 patients

Haematogones have been extensively characterized in bone marrow, but not in the peripheral blood (PB). We studied 102 PB samples from adult patients with a sensitive flow cytometry method. Sixty-six of 102 samples (65%) contained detectable haematogones, ranging from 0.01% to 1.3% of white blood cells (median 0.06%, mean 0.13%). Of 66 cases with complete blood count data, 51 had absolute haematogone counts of 0.00037-0.105 x 10(9)/l (median 0.0054 x 10(9)/l, mean 0.012 x 10(9)/l). PB haematogones belonged exclusively to the most mature maturational stage. These findings have implications for PB analysis of minimal residual disease in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and follicular lymphoma.

Immunologic aspects of West syndrome and evidence of plasma inhibitory effects on T cell function

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the extent of immune dysfunction in a well-defined group of epileptic patients: children with diagnosis of West syndrome (WS) or with transitions to another age-related EEG patterns, the multifocal independent spikes (MIS), and the slow spike-wave complexes (Lennox-Gastaut syndrome - LGS). Thus, WS was studied at different points of the natural evolutive history of the disease. METHOD: A group of 50 patients (33 with WS, 10 with LGS and 7 with MIS) and 20 age-matched healthy controls were submitted to enumeration of T lymphocyte subsets: CD1, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD4/CD8 ratio and lymphocyte proliferation assay to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), in the presence of autologous and AB, homologous plasma. Dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) skin test sensitization was performed only in patients. Determinations of IgG, IgA, and IgM serum levels were compared to standard values for Brazilian population in different age ranges. RESULTS: Sensitization to DNCB showed absent or low skin reactions in 76% of the patients. High levels of IgG (45.7%) and IgM (61.4%), and lower levels of IgA (23.9%) were detected in the serum of the patients. Enumeration of lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood showed: low CD3+ (p<0.05), low CD4+ (p<0.05), high CD8+ (p<0.01) and low CD4+ / CD8+ ratio (p<0.001). The proportion of CD1+ cells in the control group was less than 3%, while ranged between 6 and 11 % in 18% of the patients. The in vitro PHA-induced T cell proliferation showed significantly low blastogenic indices only when patients, cells were cultured in presence of their own plasma. No differences in blastogenic indices were observed when the cells of patients and controls were cultured with human AB plasma. CONCLUSION: The immunodeficiency in WS was mainly characterized by anergy, impaired cell-mediated immunity, altered levels of immunoglobulins, presence of immature thymocytes in peripheral blood and functional impairment of T lymphocytes induced by plasma inhibitory factors.

Age-related changes of immunophenotypically immature lymphocytes in normal human peripheral blood

The presence of phenotypically immature lymphocytes in umbilical cord blood has been a controversial topic. Moreover, their changes with age have not been systematically evaluated. In the present study, relative and absolute numbers of CD34+, CD10+CD19+, and CD4+CD8+ cell subsets were determined in umbilical cord blood from 12 full-term normal newborns, 43 children aged 1 month to 6 years, and 10 young adults. The samples were processed by whole-blood lysis and monoclonal antibody staining, and cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Immature cells were present in cord blood and progressively declined in both absolute and percentage numbers with age, each according to a particular curve, reaching youth values roughly at age 2-4 years. These results demonstrate that phenotypically immature cells normally circulate at low levels in peripheral blood, mostly at birth and during infancy, but also during youth.

Immunophenotyping of blood lymphocytes in childhood. Reference values for lymphocyte subpopulations

OBJECTIVE

Immunophenotyping of blood lymphocytes is an important tool in the diagnosis of hematologic and immunologic disorders. Because of maturation and expansion of the immune system in the first years of life, the relative and the absolute size of lymphocyte subpopulations vary during childhood. Therefore we wished to obtain reference values for the relative and the absolute size of all relevant blood lymphocyte subpopulations in childhood.

STUDY DESIGN

We used the lysed whole blood method for analysis of lymphocyte subpopulations in 429 blood samples from neonates (n = 20), healthy children (n = 358), and adults (n = 51). The following age groups were used: 1 week to 2 months (n = 13), 2 to 5 months (n = 46), 5 to 9 months (n = 105), 9 to 15 months (n = 70), 15 to 24 months (n = 33), 2 to 5 years (n = 33), 5 to 10 years (n = 35), and 10 to 16 years (n = 23).

RESULTS

Our results show that the absolute number of CD19+ B lymphocytes increases twofold immediately after birth, remains stable until 2 years of age, and subsequently gradually decreases 6.5-fold from 2 years to adult age. The CD3+ T lymphocytes increase 1.5-fold immediately after birth and decrease threefold from 2 years to adult age. The absolute size of the CD3+/CD4+ T-lymphocyte subpopulation follows the same pattern as the total CD3+ population, but the CD3+/CD8+ T lymphocytes remain stable from birth up to 2 years of age, followed by a gradual threefold decrease toward adult levels. In contrast to B and T lymphocytes, the absolute number of natural killer cells decreases almost threefold in the first 2 months of life and remains stable thereafter. Our study also showed that changes in the absolute size of lymphocyte subpopulations are not always consistent with changes in their relative size. This demonstrates that the relative counts of lymphocyte subsets do not reflect their actual size and are therefore of limited value.

CONCLUSION

On the basis of this study we strongly recommend that immunophenotyping of blood lymphocytes for the diagnosis of hematologic and immunologic disorders be based on the absolute rather than on the relative size of lymphocyte subpopulations. Our data can be used as age-matched reference values for blood lymphocyte immunophenotyping.

Immunological characteristics of umbilical cord blood cells: phenotypic and functional analysis

The purpose of this study was to phenotype and assay immunological function on cord blood from 70 samples. Immunophenotyping indicated similar numbers of CD2, 3, and 8-positive cells as in adult bone marrow. CD4-positive cells were increased and CD19, 20, and CD56-positive cells were decreased in numbers. Proliferative responses to nonspecific mitogens were lower in cord blood cells than in adult cells, as was NK activity and spontaneous secretion of IL-6 and TNF-alpha. This study confirms the relative immaturity of cord blood cells even when some functional assays appear normal.

Immune responses during human schistosomiasis mansoni. XVIII. Immunologic status of pregnant women and their neonates

The immune status of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and sera of pregnant women infected with the helminth Schistosoma mansoni was studied during pregnancy and the cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC) and sera from their offspring were studied at parturition. PBMC pokeweed mitogen-induced responses were maintained in gravid women, but the responses to both schistosome and non-schistosome antigenic preparations declined progressively during pregnancy. Schistosomal antigens stimulated proliferative responses by the CBMC of many neonates born of infected mothers, but not those of uninfected mothers. These specific responses by CBMC of only neonates born of infected mothers are indicative of in utero, cell-mediated sensitization of the neonates, which could be due either to circulating schistosomal antigens or to anti-idiotypic antibodies which cross the placenta during gestation. Sera from infected mothers and the cord blood sera from their babies showed the same levels of specific IgG anti-schistosomal activity. Anti-schistosomal IgM levels were maintained during pregnancy to some antigens and not to others, while such antibodies were rarely found in cord blood sera, and then only at very low levels.