Shah Muhammad Khan Jadoon, Shaheen Moin, Tahir Aziz Ahmed, Muhammad Mukarram Bashir, Samina Jadoon.
Smear-Negative pulmonary tuberculosis and lymphocyte subsets.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;14(7):419-22.

Objective: To correlate and quantitate lymphocyte subsets with clinically diagnosed smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis and severity of disease. Design: Case-control study. Place and Duration of Study: Military Hospital and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Rawalpindi. 1999-2000. Subjects and Methods: Freshly diagnosed, well-characterized smear-negative patients (n=15) of pulmonary tuberculosis were selected. Non-induced three-consecutive negative smears of sputum with simultaneous culture for AFB for 6-8 weeks, positive Mauntoux test (Ž10 mm), blood complete picture with ESR and chest x-rays were done. Selected panel of monoclonal antibodies against specific CD markers were used. Statistical analysis done by student t-test or Mann-Whitney rank-sum test with the help of Sigma State software. Results: Hemoglobin and total lymphocyte counts were significantly reduced whereas total leukocyte counts with absolute neutrophil counts were increased. Fraction of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes with HLA-DR expression was reduced while no significant change in rest of the TB and NK lymphocytes. Conclusion: Low hemoglobin level, high neutrophil count and low total lymphocytes suggest possible direct relationship with extent of disease. The number of activated CD4+, CD8+, ab and gd TCR T cells have tendency to increase during Mycobacterium infection. This seems to have a potential of being a good, non-invasive prognostic indicator for patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

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