title: Comparison of peripheral blood T lymphocyte immune function among venous thromboembolism patients with and without infection and patients with simple infection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the differences of T lymphocyte subgroups and high-sensitivity C reactive protein (HsCRP) levels among patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE), VTE patients with infection, simple infection patients and the normal controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  289 patients were enrolled in this study and divided into control group, VTE group, VTE with infection group and simple infection group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with the control group, the serum levels of CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+) T lymphocytes significantly decreased and CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio significantly increased in simple infection group (P < 0.05); CD3(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes significantly decreased and CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio significantly increased in VTE and VTE with infection group (P < 0.05); the proportion of declined CD3(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes increased, and the proportion of increased CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio statistically elevated in three disease groups. As an important inflammatory factor, all HsCRP levels in three disease groups significantly increased when compared with the control group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Immune dysfunction exists in both of VTE and infection patients, while VTE patients tend to be accompanied with infections. The changes of T lymphocyte subgroups in VTE patients, who were independent from infection, could cause T lymphocyte immune dysfunction, suggesting that there were abnormalities of T lymphocyte immune function in VTE itself. The overall T lymphocyte functions of recognizing antigens and transducing activation signals decline in VTE patients. Besides, the function of T lymphocyte of directly killing virus microbes declines significantly and the inflammatory mechanisms are involved in the occurrence and development of venous thrombosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji University Shanghai 20065, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji University Shanghai 20065, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji University Shanghai 20065, China.
authors.forename: Lemin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji University Shanghai 20065, China.
authors.forename: Jinfa
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji University Shanghai 20065, China.
authors.forename: Wenjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji University Shanghai 20065, China.
authors.forename: Jiahong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji University Shanghai 20065, China.
authors.forename: Haoming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
keywords: T lymphocyte; immune function; venous thromboembolism