title: Reduced circulating CD4+CD25+ cell populations in Guillain-Barré syndrome.
abstract: Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a monophasic inflammatory disease considered to be due to autoimmunity. In order to test the hypothesis that the disease is associated with a perturbation of the circulating lymphoid cell population, we tested the mononuclear cells from the venous blood of 21 patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and 20 healthy controls by flow cytometry. The proportions and numbers of B and T lymphocytes, and CD4, CD8, double negative and gammadelta T cell subsets and numbers of monocytes were not significantly different in the patients compared with the controls. However, the number and proportion of CD4+CD25+ cells were reduced in acute GBS (mean number 61.7 cells/microl, 95% CI 42.9-80.4 and mean percentage 4.6%, 95% CI 3.8-5.4) compared with controls (mean number 99.8 cells/microl, 95% CI 74.7-124.9, p=0.02, and mean percentage 6.0%, 95% CI 4.9-7.1%, p=0.037). In addition, in GBS patients, the number and proportion of CD4+ T cells expressing CD25+ and HLA-DP, DQ, DR (mean number 11.9 cells/microl, 95% CI 7.6-16.1 and mean percentage 0.8%, 95% CI 0.5-1.1%) was lower than in healthy controls (23.5 cells/microl, 95% CI 16.4-30.6, p=0.01, and mean percentage 1.4%, 95% CI 1.1-1.8%, p=0.005. Since CD4+CD25+ cells include cells with special immunoregulatory functions, further investigation of this phenomenon and its relation to possible loss of regulatory T cell function in GBS is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, King's College London School of Medicine, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pritchard
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Makowska
authors.forename: Norman A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Gregson
authors.forename: Adrian C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Hayday
authors.forename: Richard A C
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D020275:Guillain-Barre Syndrome / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000097:blood*; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D015704:CD4 Antigens; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit