title: Influence of HLA-DR2 on perforin-positive cells in pulmonary tuberculosis.
abstract: Perforin is one of the key effector molecules of cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells. The influence of HLA-DRB1 alleles on peripheral blood perforin-positive CD4, CD8, CD16 and CD 56 cells was studied by flow cytometry. HLA-DRB1 typing was done in normal healthy subjects (NHS: n = 156) and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB: n = 102) by polymerase chain reaction-based sequence-specific oligonucleotide hybridization method. We observed a significantly decreased percentage of total perforin-positive cells (per(+)) (P = 0.0004); CD8(+)/Per(+) (P = 0.0005); CD16(+)/Per(+) (P = 0.05) and CD 56(+)/Per(+) cells (P = 0.001) in HLA-DR2-positive PTB patients compared to non-DR2 patients. Subtyping of HLA-DR2-positive subjects at the allelic level revealed that the percentage of CD8(+)/Per(+) cells did not differ among DRB1*1501 and DRB1*1502 patients while a trend towards a decreased percentage of CD16(+)/Per(+) and CD 56(+)/Per(+) cells was noticed in DRB1*1501 patients compared to DRB1*1502 patients. The present study suggests that HLA-DR2 may be associated with down-regulation of perforin-positive cytotoxic lymphocytes and natural killer cells in pulmonary tuberculosis.
authors.affiliation: Tuberculosis Research Centre, Indian Council of Medical Research, Chetput, Chennai, India.
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Rajeswari
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Selvaraj
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Raghavan
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jawahar
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Narayanan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015798:HLA-DR1 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D015802:HLA-DR2 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054353:Perforin / Q000032:analysis*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015798:HLA-DR1 Antigen; D015802:HLA-DR2 Antigen; D054353:Perforin