The behaviour of OKT3-, OKT4- and OKT8-positive cells during phases of elevated spontaneous chemiluminescence activity (CL-A) in multiple sclerosis patients. A serial study.
The chemiluminescence activity (CL-A; synonym = burst activity, BA) and the percentage of OKT3-, OKT4- and OKT8-positive peripheral blood cells were serially examined in four control persons and in eight patients with multiple sclerosis. When the OKT values obtained in phases of increased CL-A (clinical remission) were compared with those of the control group, the percentage of OKT3-positive cells was reduced (P = 0.014), and that of OKT4-positive cells increased (P = 0.014); there were no significant changes in the percentage of OKT8-positive cells (P = 0.171). After the CL-A had returned to normal values, the OKT4-positive cells remained elevated (P = 0.029), whereas the OKT3- (P = 0.342) and OKT8-positive cells (P = 0.443) showed no significant changes. When in the same patients, phases of increased CL-A were compared with phases in which values were not elevated, a reduced percentage of OKT3-positive cells was found in phases with increased CL-A (P = 0.031); however, the OKT4-positive and OKT8-positive cells did not differ significantly (P = 0.156 and 0.281).
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008297:Male; D009000:Monocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000097:blood*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000378:metabolism; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000378:metabolism