1Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029, INDIA.
2Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029, INDIA.
3Deparunent of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029, INDIA.
The role of the various antigens, namely purified protein derivative of Mycohacterium tuherculosis (PPD), streptococcus (group-A, type-I) and mitogens (Con-A, PHA-P) was evaluated in Takayasu's arteritis (TA) patients hy lymphocyte transformation assay. The lymphocyte subsets Pan-T (CD3), T-helper/inducer (CD4), T-suppressor/cytotoxic (CD8), B-pan (CD19) were also evaluated hy the immunonuorescent staining technique. A total of fortyeight patients suffering from TA were studied along with the controls. Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLS) of TA patients showed no signiticant difference in the lymphoproliferative response to the PPD and the streptococcus antigen in the patient group when compared with that of the normal control group. Similarly the response to mitogens PHA-P and Con-A showed no signiticant difference in the Iymphoproliferative response between the patient and the control groups. The lymphocytic subset showed a significant decrease in CD3 and CD4 cells, while there was no signiticant change seen in the CD8 cell number in the patient group when compared with that of the controls. However, there was a concomitant increase in the CD19 lymphocytes, indicating an upsurge in the humoral immune response in the patients suffering from Takayasu's arteritis.
Our observations thus indicate that tuberculosis and the streptococcal antigen do not appear to he etiologically related to TA. There are a variety of immunological changes seen in these patients. The high numher of B-Iymphocytes represent a stimulation in the humoral immune response when the T-cell population is deficient.
Takayasu's arteritis, LST, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19
