title: [Significant decrease of recent thymic output function in patients with severe benzene intoxication].
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the level of T-cell receptor excision DNA circles (TREC) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) of patients with severe benzene poison, thereby to evaluate the content of naive T cells and the recent thymic output function. Quantitative detection of TREC in DNA of PBMNCs from 16 normal individuals and 8 cases with severe benzene poison was preformed by real-time PCR using TaqMan technique. The results showed that TREC level was 6.69 +/- 4.79/1 000 PBMNCs in normal individuals, however, significant decrease was shown in patients with severe benzene poison (1.03 +/- 0.44/1 000 PBMNCs, P < 0.01). The TREC level was persistently low in period of benzene poisoning, even if peripheral blood cell counts were at normal levels. In conclusion, the recent thymic output function is remarkably decreased in patients with severe benzene intoxication, that may obviously damage the T cell immune function.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hematology, Medical College, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China. jn-yangqiuli@163.com
authors.forename: Yang-Qiu
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Su-Fang
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Li-Jian
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Shao-Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yu-Bing
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jia-Yu
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wei-Wei
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001554:Benzene / Q000506:poisoning*; D004270:DNA, Circular / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D004270:DNA, Circular; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D001554:Benzene