T Cell Functional Disturbances in Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis

The investigations of 38 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PT) revealed combined T cell and monocyte functional disturbances. Indeed, the percentages of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes, proliferative response and IL-2 production, as well as the percentages of HLA DR(+) monocytes and IL-1beta production were significantly decreased in PT patients as compared with normal individuals. Herewith the absolute T lymphocyte number did not undergo the pronounced changes. The decrease of T cell proliferative response was not mediated through immunosuppressive action of monocytes or T lymphocytes since removing of "adherent" cells from patient's peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) or pretreatment of PBMC with indomethacin and cyclophosphan failed to recover mitogenic reactivity in vitro. The patient's sera also did not significantly influence on PBMC proliferation. The decrease of IL-2 production and the stimulation of T cell proliferative response via TcR-CD3 complex, i.e. through the classic pathway of activation, indicated the anergy of T lymphocyte in tuberculosis patients. Furthermore, T lymphocytes were characterized by enhanced apoptosis. It should be noted, that patient's sera (especially in the patients with an initially high apoptosis) promoted significant anti-apoptotic activity. It is likely that this mechanism may be an explanation, why absolute T lymphopenia is absent during tuberculosis infection. Our findings suggest, that T lymphocyte dysfunctions in patients with PT are caused by impairments of T cell activation process, which lead to predominance of "negative" response (induction anergy, apoptosis) and to a lesser degree connected with direct suppressive mechanisms mediated by monocytes, T lymphocytes or serum factors.