[Selected parameters of immune reactivity in sensorineural hearing loss patients. II. CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ subsets of...

Subpopulations CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ of T lymphocytes in 67 healthy individuals and in 36 sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) patients with unknown etiology were determined. The patients were studied in two groups, i.e. 29 patients with bilateral and progressive hearing loss and 7 patients with sudden deafness. The ratio of CD4+ and CD8+ was also calculated. The results were presented as the mean value for percentage and absolute numbers of the cells together with statistical analysis. The acquired results of two group patients with SNHL were completed before and at the beginning of ubiquitine therapy. The highly significant differences (p < 0.001) for CD8+ subset in comparison with the results of control group was found. The restitution effect of ubiquitine treatment for CD3+ and CD4+ T lymphocytes subpopulation in SNHL patients was observed. Additionally in patients with sudden hearing loss the CD8+ subset was also normalized. The ratio of CD4+:CD8+ in patients with bilateral and progressive hearing loss was lower (1.27 +/- 0.21) that in control group (1.66 +/- 0.25) and significantly different (t = 7.31; p < 0.001). It was shown that the distribution of examined CD system markers which depended on CD4+:CD8+ ratio was normal only in 27.6% of patients with SNHL. It was a group of 9 patients in whom hearing loss appeared after bacterial or virus infections. No changes in the CD4+:CD8+ subpopulation ratio at the beginning of ubiquitine therapy was observed. The distribution of normal results for T cell subpopulations in patients before and during treatment was presented in table III. Our results indicate that the observations may have an important diagnostic value. The authors suggest that the CD system antigens determination in monitoring the clinical status of SNHL patients and also in patients treated with drugs influencing the immune system is needed.