Cell-mediated immunity in Brazilian hemophilia patients

The purpose of this study was to correlate the immunological features of healthy hemophiliac A patients treated with commercial cryoprecipitates with those who received factor VIII concentrates associated or not with cryoprecipitates. The absolute number of total lymphocytes, T3, T4 and B lymphocytes did not differ for either group of patients or the controls. The number of T8 lymphocytes was higher in the group treated only with cryoprecipitates than for the controls. The T4/T8 lymphocyte ratios for both groups of patients were significantly lower than in the controls. This was due to a decrease in the percentage of T4 and increase of T8 lymphocytes. K cell activity was lower in both groups of patients than the controls. These results indicate that both cryoprecipitates and commercial factor VIII concentrate replacements had similar effects on the development of lymphocyte abnormalities.