Inverted T helper/T suppressor lymphocyte ratio is not a reliable indicator of coexistent HIV infection in the presence of carcinoma: report of a patient with ovarian carcinoma and inverted TH/TS ratio.
Patients with non-HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) related cancers may also have HIV infection. Inverted peripheral blood lymphocyte T helper/T suppressor ratios with selective loss of T helper cells may be used as a clinical screening test for HIV infection in these patients since they may be seronegative for retrovirus infection early in the course of infection. We describe a case in which carcinoma alone appeared to induce systemic changes that resembled coexistent HIV infection. Many of these abnormalities, including inverted TH/TS ratio with selective loss of T helper cells, improved in the immediate postoperative period, indicating that HIV infection was not present. We conclude then, that diagnosis of HIV infection should not be made without more definitive evidence of its presence than an inverted TH/TS ratio in a patient with carcinoma.
Fromowitz
F B
FB
Department of Pathology, University Hospital, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794.
Mann
W J
WJ
Golightly
M G
MG
Dattwyler
R J
RJ
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000145:classification*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000145:classification*