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Long‐term study on T lymphocyte subsets in newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes mellitus
Author(s) -
CHIARELLI F.,
BLASETTI A.,
VERROTTI A.,
ANICHINI M.,
MORGESE G.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1988.tb00302.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cytotoxic t cell , monoclonal antibody , lymphocyte subsets , inducer , suppressor , lymphocyte , immune system , t lymphocyte , diabetes mellitus , immunology , antibody , monoclonal , t cell , endocrinology , cancer , in vitro , biology , biochemistry , gene
T lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood from 16 newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic children were studied prospectively at four time intervals: as soon as possible after diagnosis and 1, 4 and 12 months later. T lymphocyte subsets were analysed using monoclonal antibodies and counted by cytofluorimetry. The percentage of T lymphocytes (OKT 3 + cells) did not change at the four study times. The percentage of helper/inducer T cells (OKT 4 + cells) was high at the diagnosis (43.1 ± 2.1%), but decreased after 1 and 4 months with no difference in the control values. The percentage of suppressor/cytotoxic T lymphocytes (OKT 8 + cells) was low at the diagnosis, but increased after 1 and 4 months. The OKT 4 /OKT 8 ratio was 2.31 ± 0.22 at the diagnosis study, decreasing to 1.83 after 1 month, compared with 16 sex‐ and age‐matched control children. The high percentage of helper/inducer T lymphocytes and low number of suppressor/cytotoxic T cells at onset of diabetes favour immune reactions that lead to β‐cell damage.