Intestinal and peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations in Crohn's disease.
Cellular immunity has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease. In the present work, we have studied T-lymphocytes subsets in peripheral blood and intestinal mucosa of eight patients with active disease, using monoclonal antibodies. Intraepithelial and lamina propia OKT-3 +ve cells were significantly lower than in peripheral blood (p less than 0.001). We have found an increase of B cells and OKT-8 +ve cells in intestinal mucosa with a significant decrease in helper/suppressor ratio. These findings are in accordance with a high suppressor-cytotoxic function in patients with active diseases.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000145:classification*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000145:classification*