ABSTRACT
Cell-mediated immunity was estimated in a group of 68 patients divided into three subgroups according to the evolutive stage of disease. It was demonstrated that in silicosis there is a disturbance of immunity. The detection of E rosettes and of activated rosettes was carried out according to the classical method. The mean percentage of total T lymphocytes was found lower in silicosis (62 +/- 2% statistically significant for p < 0.05), compared to the control group (66 +/- 4.6%). The study revealed a decrease of T helper lymphocytes, an increase of T suppressor/cytotoxic lymphocytes and a decrease of the T helper/T suppressor ratio (1.96 +/- 0.13) in silicosis as compared to the control group (2.83 +/- 0.31). The presence of these changes in silicotic patients suggested the participation of cell-mediated immunity in the pathogenesis of disease, the cell mediated immunity being directly responsible for the evolution of silicosis.
Subject(s)
Silicosis/immunology , T-Lymphocytes/immunology , Adult , Humans , Immunity, Cellular , Lymphocyte Count , Middle Aged , Rosette Formation , Silicosis/etiology , T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/immunology , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/immunologyABSTRACT
The changes of some immunologic parameters such as IgG, IgA and IgM, the C3 complement, the circulating immune complexes and alpha 1--antitrypsin were investigated in 75 patients with occupational allergic bronchial asthma to textile fibers as compared with 50 apparently healthy controls with no occupational exposure to textile fibers. It was observed that IgG and IgA decreased significantly while IgM increased. Likewise C3 decreased in all patients with occupational allergic bronchial asthma (OABA) as compared with the controls an CIC increased significantly. The determinations carried out demonstrated a parallelism of action in the immune response.
Subject(s)
Asthma/immunology , Occupational Diseases/immunology , Textiles/adverse effects , Adult , Antigen-Antibody Complex/blood , Asthma/etiology , Complement C3/analysis , Humans , Immunity, Innate , Immunoglobulins/blood , Middle Aged , Occupational Diseases/etiology , alpha 1-Antitrypsin/analysisABSTRACT
The authors verify whether in silicosis the accumulation of silicon dioxide (SiO2) particles in the lung can induce changes of the activated T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. The lymphoblastic transformation of lymphocytes stimulated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mt) and purified protein derivative (PPD) was studied using the classical methods. It was observed that in patients exposed to SiO2 lymphocyte reactivity to the above stimulants decreases. Significant differences between patients and controls were observed only in the response to PHA (p < 0.001).
Subject(s)
Lymphocyte Activation , Silicosis/immunology , Humans , Lymphocyte Activation/drug effects , Silicosis/classification , T-Lymphocytes/drug effects , T-Lymphocytes/immunologyABSTRACT
The study of some parameters of humoral and cellular immunity in 45 pollinosis patients and 18 healthy controls, showed a deficit of humoral immunity reflected in a decrease of the IgA and IgG mean values and an increase of the IgM mean values (coefficient of correlation (r): r IgA/IgG = 0.912; r IgM/IgG = -0.316). As regards the cellular immunity the study revealed both a numeric and a functional decrease of the T lymphocytes r Th/Ts = -0.877, showing a deficit of cellular-mediated immunity.