title: Cellular expressions and serum concentrations of Fas ligand and Fas receptor in patients with infectious mononucleosis.
abstract: Although lymphocytosis and neutropenia are commonly associated with infectious mononucleosis (IM), the precise mechanisms involved remain unclear. Accumulated evidence has revealed that the apoptosis-mediating system, Fas receptor/Fas ligand (Fas-R/Fas-L), plays an important role in this disease. Recently, lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophils have been reported to constitutively express Fas-R, and the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been shown to activate, in addition to B cells, peripheral blood CD8+ T cells, monocytes, and neutrophils. We elucidated cell surface expression and serum concentrations of Fas-R and Fas-L in patients with IM in an effort to more clearly define the role and contribution of apoptosis in this disease. The expression of lymphocyte surface Fas-L and Fas-R was significantly increased in patients with IM (P < .005 and P < .001, respectively), and among lymphocytes, CD4+ or CD8+ populations contained Fas-R+ as well as Fas-R- subpopulations. The constitutive Fas-R expression levels of monocytes and neutrophils were also increased in IM. Moreover, serum levels of both soluble Fas-L and Fas-R were significantly higher in patients with IM than in healthy volunteers (P < .001 and P < .0001, respectively). Positive relationships between the number of peripheral blood CD95+ lymphocytes and white blood cell count, number of lymphocytes, or number of CD4+ or CD8+ lymphocytes were observed. Our results suggest that the Fas-R/Fas-L system might play a role in eliminating EBV-infected or -activated peripheral blood cells by cell-to-cell contact or in an autocrine and/or paracrine fashion in patients with IM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Yokohama Rosai Hospital for Labour Welfare Corporation, Yokohama City, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirasawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawabuchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wakabayashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017209:Apoptosis; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007244:Infectious Mononucleosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: C505661:FASLG protein, human; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D019014:fas Receptor