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T lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocyte leukaemia: relationship to infective episodes
E R Copson1, N B Westwood, G Majumdar
1Division of Haematology, United Medical School, London, UK.
Insights
Patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) show altered T-cells, but higher CD5+ B-cells correlate with frequent infections, suggesting malignant B-cells may cause immune suppression.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Oncology
- Hematology
Background:
- B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) is linked to increased infection risk.
- Previous studies noted T-cell abnormalities in B-CLL, but their predictive value for infection remained unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between lymphocyte subpopulations and infection incidence in B-CLL patients.
- To determine if T-cell abnormalities predict infection susceptibility in B-CLL.
Main Methods:
- Enumeration of lymphocyte subpopulations (T-cell subsets, NK cells, CD5+ B-cells) in 22 B-CLL patients.
- Patients were grouped based on the number of infectious episodes in the preceding three years.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in T-cell subsets or NK cells were observed between patient groups with varying infection frequencies.
- Patients experiencing frequent infections exhibited significantly higher CD5+ B-cell counts.
Conclusions:
- Numerical alterations in T-cell subpopulations are confirmed in B-CLL but do not predict infection susceptibility.
- Elevated CD5+ B-cell counts in B-CLL patients with frequent infections suggest potential immunosuppressive activity by malignant B-cells.
Abstract:
Patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) have an increased susceptibility to infection. Quantitative abnormalities of T-cells have been previously reported in B-CLL, although the relationship between such abnormalities and the incidence of infection still remains to be established. We therefore enumerated lymphocyte subpopulations in 22 patients with B-CLL grouped according to the number of infective episodes in the previous three years. No significant differences were found between the patient groups and the mean number of T-cells subsets (helper, suppressor, suppressor-inducer and suppressor effector) or NK cells, but patients with frequent infections were found to have significantly higher CD5+ B-cell counts. Thus, we confirm that T-cell subpopulations are numerically altered in patients with B-CLL, but found that such changes are not predictive of susceptibility to infection. Our results however suggest that the malignant B-cells may exhibit immunosuppressive activity.
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