title: Immunoregulatory T cells in the peripheral blood of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
abstract: We aimed at investigating the distribution of various types of immunoregulatory T cells in the peripheral blood of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) (n = 94) being in the state of long-lasting complete remission using flow cytometry. Healthy patients (n = 41) as 'negative' and patients in complete remission with breast cancer (n = 47) as 'positive' controls were investigated in the study. We found significant elevations in the number of CD4+ CD25high naturally occurring regulatory T cells, CD4+/intracellular IL-10+ (Tr1) and CD8+/intracellular IL-10+ T cells in HL compared to the healthy controls. In carcinoma patients, however, the number of Tr1 and CD8+/IL-10+ T cells was higher than that in the other two groups. The increase in the number of CD4+ CD25high T cells seems to be characteristic of HL compared to the two other types of regulatory T cells. This change exists for a long time and it seems to be a characteristic of HL and independent of the types of therapy and the duration of time since therapy.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Internal Medicine, Medical and Health Science Center, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Sándor
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baráth
authors.forename: Magdolna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aleksza
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Keresztes
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tóth
authors.forename: Sándor
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sipka
authors.forename: Gyula
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Szegedi
authors.forename: Arpád
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Illés
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D016827:CD8 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000032:analysis; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D016827:CD8 Antigens; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D016753:Interleukin-10