[Phenotype analysis of peripheral blood T lymphocytes from SLE patients by flow cytometry]

Phenotype of OKT3, OKT4 and OKT8 markers on surface of peripheral blood T lymphocytes from 31 SLE patients were analyzed with a flow cytometer and the results were compared with those of T cells from 36 normal controls. The results showed that the rates of OKT3+ and OKT4+ cells were within the normal range, while that of OKT8+ cells (44.52 +/- 12.07%) was significantly higher than normal (30.39 +/- 6.06%, P less than 0.01). Besides, the OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio in patients (0.69 +/- 0.24) was lower than that of normal controls (1.06 +/- 0.28, P less than 0.01), 5/13 (38.5%) cases with kidney lesion showing obvious decrease of OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio, while 1/18 cases (5.56%) without kidney lesion also showing such decrease.