title: Suppressor T-cell levels are unreliable indicators of the impaired immune response following thermal injury.
abstract: The presence of increased levels of suppressor T cells after thermal injury and their relevance remain controversial. It is unclear whether suppressor T cells are the cause or result of sepsis complicating thermal injury. Spleen cells from a standardized murine burn model and sham burn controls were studied and the relationship between the levels of suppressor cytotoxic T cells (CD8, Lyt-2+), helper T cells (CD4, L3T4+), response to concanavalin A (ConA) and to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) production was examined. Mortality following infection via cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) of matched controls was also studied. At day 7 postburn, mean ConA (70 +/- 12% of control) and PHA response (58% +/- 5.2% of controls) and IL-2 production (43% +/- 5.4%) were significantly less than sham burn values (100%; p less than 0.05). However, the mean percentage of cells staining with anti-Lyt-2 and anti-L3T4 (9.1 +/- 0.59 and 13.9 +/- 0.65) was similar to the mean percentage in sham burn animals (9.4 +/- 0.65 and 16.6 +/- 1.1). Furthermore, no significant differences were observed between burned mice and controls in helper (17.3% +/- 1.8% burn vs. 21.2% +/- 1.7% sham) or suppressor cell levels (7.8% +/- 1.2% burn vs. 8.6% +/- 0.7% sham) or helper-suppressor ratios on day 10 postburn. Mortality of 20 litter-matched controls subjected to CLP on day 10 postburn was 90%, which was significantly greater than the sham burn mortality of 20%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Gough
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mannick
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Rodrick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000737:chemistry*; D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications*; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D003208:Concanavalin A; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D007239:Infections / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010641:Phenotype; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015415:Biomarkers; D007376:Interleukin-2; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; D003208:Concanavalin A