title: The number and proportion of Vgamma9 Vdelta2 T cells rise significantly in the peripheral blood of patients after the onset of acute Coxiella burnetii infection.
abstract: We conducted serial studies on peripheral blood lymphocytes from four patients with acute Coxiella burnetii infection. These studies revealed that the proportion of gammadelta T cells in these patients significantly increased after the onset of disease (mean, 16%; range, 13%-30%) as compared with that in five healthy controls (mean, 4%; range, 0.5%-7%; P < .0055) and that in five controls with pneumonia (mean, 2%; range, 1%-3%; P < .0014). Most of the gammadelta T cells from these patients expressed the Vgamma9 Vdelta2 gene product. During the acute phase of disease, most gammadelta T cells expressed the activation marker human leukocyte antigen DR but not CD25. During this phase, gammadelta T cell activation was higher than alphabeta T cell activation. Our findings indicate that gammadelta T cells are predominantly involved in the acute immune response to C. burnetii.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Institute of Medical Microbiology, Universitätsklinikum Benjamin Franklin, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: H U
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Jahn
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Liesenfeld
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Steinhoff
authors.forename: E O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Riecken
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeitz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ullrich
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011778:Q Fever / Q000276:immunology*; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000032:analysis*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta