[Association between diffuse panbronchiolitis and HTLV-I infection].
To determine whether HTLV-I infection is associated with diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB), we investigated T-cell surface markers of peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in 9 healthy volunteers, 6 HTLV-I seronegative DPB patients (HTLV-I(-)DPB) and 8 HTLV-I seropositive DPB patients (HTLV-I(+)DPB). In peripheral blood, no significant difference was observed between HTLV-I(-)DBP and healthy volunteers. However, in BALF, HTLV-I(-)DPB showed a significant decrease of the CD4/CD8 ratio and an increase of CD8+HLA-DR+ cells compared with healthy volunteers. CD3+CD25+ and CD4+HLA-DR+ cells in peripheral blood were significantly increased in HTLV-I(+)DPB compared with those in HTLV-I(-)DPB. No significant difference was observed in BALF cells between HTLV-I(-) and HTLV-I(+)DPB with the exception of CD3+CD25+ cells. The most striking result was a marked elevation of CD3+CD25+ cells in 2 of 8 HTLV-I seropositive patients. Microscopic findings of open lung biopsy specimens obtained from the 2 patients differed from the typical microscopic findings in DPB. From these findings, we consider that HTLV-I infection may be associated with pulmonary lesions like DPB, but of a different, pathologically distinct, type.
Mukae
H
H
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
Higashiyama
Y
Y
Morikawa
T
T
Kusano
S
S
Morikawa
N
N
Kadota
J
J
Kohno
S
S
Hara
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000032:analysis; D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte