Some aspects of "deep lung" cellular immunity in chronic bronchitis before and after therapy with tiopronin

Fifteen patients suffering from obstructive chronic bronchopneumonia in a clinical steady-state phase received 0.6 g of tiopronin once a day during 10 days per os. The lymphocyte subsets (OKT3, OKT4 and OKT8) have been identified in peripheral blood and in bronchoalveolar lavage liquid (BAL) before and after treatment and phagocytosis has been evaluated in pulmonary alveolar macrophages (PAM) (phagocytosis index, phagocytosis percentage, superoxide-ion production). A highly significant improvement in the phagocytosis process has been observed in the PAM, as well as an increase in the number of lymphocytes T3 and in the T4/T8 ratio (due to an increase in T4 lymphocytes) in the BAL; while in peripheral blood T3 and T4 lymphocytes and the T4/T8 ratio only showed a nonsignificant increase after treatment. The possible mechanisms on which these variations are based have been investigated.