A study of lymphocyte subsets in patients with angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy

Immunological marker studies of peripheral blood lymphocytes in 22 patients with typical angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy were carried out. There was a decrease of the absolute lymphocyte number, of T-helper cells and the T4/T8 ratio in the active stage of the disease. The active T-cells and total T-cells were reduced both in the active and in the inactive state. The number of B-cells was in both states increased. Implications and possible mechanism of these observations are discussed. The histological findings and the clinical picture of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy (AILD) or immunoblastic lymphadenopathy (IBL) were described by Frizzera et al (1974) and Lukes & Tindle (1975). The aetiology and pathogenesis of AILD are unknown. Hyperimmune phenomena, hypersensitivity (Lukes & Tindle, 1975), and chronic antigenic stimulation (Neiman et al, 1978) were suggested as possible factors. A defect in T-cell regulatory function with secondary B-cell system proliferation was also postulated due to the decreased T-suppressor cells (Lukes & Tindle, 1975; Frizzera et al, 1974). In almost all of the reported cases of AILD there has been a decrease in T-cells and an increase in B-cells (Pruzanski, 1980). In this report we describe the results of immunological studies of peripheral blood lymphocytes in 22 patients with typical AILD. We have found that the active state of the disease is characterized by T-lymphopenia due to the decrease of OKT4 positive cells.