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Disease‐dependent changes in T‐cell populations in patients with shigellosis
Author(s) -
Islam Dilara,
Christensson Birger
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
apmis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0903-4641
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0463.2000.d01-52.x
Subject(s) - shigellosis , shigella dysenteriae , dysentery , shigella , intestinal mucosa , immunology , bacillary dysentery , pathogenesis , t cell , shigella flexneri , cd8 , medicine , inflammation , immunophenotyping , pathology , immune system , biology , flow cytometry , biochemistry , escherichia coli , gene
In shigellosis, bacterial infection is associated with an extensive inflammation of the rectal mucosa, resulting in bloody dysentery. The role of T‐cell‐mediated pro‐inflammatory mechanisms has been implicated in this process, but the specific role of T‐cell subsets is still not well understood. In this study we attempted to identify the changes in T‐cell populations in patients with shigellosis during the disease course. The T‐cell subset distribution was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in the rectal mucosa and by immuno‐flow cytometry in the peripheral blood. Blood and rectal biopsies were studied from patients with Shigella dysenteriae 1 (n=11) and S. flexneri (n=11) infection and 20 healthy age‐matched controls. We found an expansion of γ,δ + T cells in the rectal mucosa, but a decrease in the percentage of γ,δ + T cells in the blood in acute shigellosis. There was also a preferential increase in CD8 + T cells in the surface epithelium of rectal tissue in patients infected with S. dysenteriae 1, but not in patients infected with S. flexneri . Our findings suggest that the rectal mucosal inflammation in shigellosis is associated with an expansion of T cells, in particular CD8 + and γ,δ + T‐cell subsets in the gut mucosa, which may be of importance for the pathogenesis of shigellosis.