Premium
Change of specific T cells in an emerging neonatal infectious disease induced by a bacterial superantigen
Author(s) -
Takahashi Naoto,
Kato Hidehito,
Imanishi Ken’ichi,
Ohki Takehiro,
Uehara Ritei,
Momoi Mariko Y.,
Nishida Hiroshi,
Uchiyama Takehiko
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2009.00155.x
Subject(s) - superantigen , population , biology , flow cytometry , physics , immunology , t cell , medicine , immune system , environmental health
A new epidemic, NTED, has recently occurred in Japan. The cause of NTED is a bacterial superantigen, TSST‐1. The aim of the present study was to analyze the change in Vβ2 + T cells reactive to TSST‐1 in NTED in order to establish T‐cell‐targeted diagnostic criteria for NTED. Blood samples from 75 patients with clinically diagnosed NTED were collected from 13 neonatal intensive care units throughout Japan. We investigated the percentages of Vβ2 + , Vβ3 + and Vβ12 + T cells and their CD45RO expressions in the samples using flow cytometry. In 18 of the 75 patients, we conducted multiple examinations of the T cells and monitored serial changes. The Vβ2 + T‐cell population rapidly changed over three phases of the disease. Whereas the percentage of Vβ2 + T cells was widely distributed over the entire control range, CD45RO expression on Vβ2 + T cells in CD4 + in all 75 patients was consistently higher than the control range. Patients cannot necessarily be diagnosed as having NTED based on expansion of Vβ2 + T cells alone in the early acute phase. Instead, CD45RO expression on specific Vβ2 + cells is a potential diagnostic marker for a rapid diagnosis of NTED. We present three diagnostic categories of NTED. Fifty patients (66.7%) were included in the category ‘definitive NTED’. It is important to demonstrate an increase of Vβ2 + T cells in the following phase in cases of ‘probable NTED’ or ‘possible NTED’.