title: [Telomerase activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with acquired immune dysfunction].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate telomerase activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in patients with acquired immune dysfunction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Telomerase activity of peripheral PBMC isolated from 4 groups including healthy subjects (17), chronic hepatitis B patients (14), diabetic patients (8) and chronic renal failure patients (8) was assayed with PCR-ELISA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) Telomerase activity was detectable at low levels in resting PBMC of all the 4 groups. It increased obviously after in vitro phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulation; (2) Telomerase activity of the resting PBMC in chronic hepatitis B patients was significantly lower than that in normal subjects, and was upregulated to the same level in the both groups after PHA stimulation; (3) No effect of recombinant human interleukin-12 on telomerase activity of activated T lymphocytes was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PBMC may express telomerase activity and the decreased telomerase activity of PBMC in patients with chronic hepatitis B may partially be responsible for immune dysfunction in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The Affiliated Xiangya Hospital of Hunan Medical University, Changsha 410008, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000494:pharmacology; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000201:enzymology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D019098:Telomerase / Q000097:blood*; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D018664:Interleukin-12; D019098:Telomerase