Lymphocyte subset characterization in patients with early clinical presentation of coronary heart disease

This study aimed to investigate lymphocyte populations in non-diabetic patients with early clinical presentation of coronary heart disease (CHD). Twenty-five consecutive middle-aged (<55 years) out-patients with CHD (acute myocardial infarction in the previous 3 months) and stable clinical conditions (>1 month) underwent venous blood sampling in order to determinate CD3+ (T-lymphocytes), CD19+ (B-lymphocytes), CD4+ (helper/inducer lymphocytes) and CD8+ (suppressor/cytotoxic lymphocytes) populations. Patients with diabetes, heart failure symptoms, recent revascularization (<30 days) were excluded. Twenty-five patients matched for age, gender and risk factors were enrolled as controls. All patients with CHD previously underwent coronary angiography. CHD patients showed lower CD3+ levels (70.96 ± 4.72 vs. 74.12 ± 4.93 %, p < 0.05) and CD8+ (37.80 ± 7.15 vs. 46.36 ± 5.22 %, p < 0.001) but higher CD4+ (37.32 ± 7.99 vs. 31.64 ± 4.72 %, p < 0.01) and CD4+/CD8+ ratio (1.06 ± 0.43 vs. 0.69 ± 0.13, p < 0.001). Difference in CD19+ levels was not statistically significant. Subjects with an impaired (≤55 %) left ventricular ejection fraction were characterized by lower levels of CD8+ (33.23 ± 7.04 vs. 43.76 ± 7.40 %, p < 0.05) and higher levels of CD4+ (38.31 ± 8.23 vs. 32.73 ± 6.08 %, p < 0.05) and CD4+/CD8+ ratio (1.06 ± 0.38 vs. 0.79 ± 0.34, p < 0.05). CD8+ levels inversely related to severity of coronary atherosclerosis (r = -0.37, p < 0.01). In conclusion, subjects with early clinical presentation of CHD are characterized by an altered CD4+/CD8+ ratio and lower CD3+ levels.