The specific T cell immunity changes and its significance in invasive pulmonary aspergillosis patients

Abstract

Objective To investigate the changes and significance of early immune response in specific T cell with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis(IPA) patients. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were separated from whole blood of 8 cases of healthy individuals (healthy group) and 24 cases of IPA patients (IPA group, including 6 cases of pathological diagnosis, 9 cases of clinical diagnosis and 9 cases of tentative diagnosis), and the heat-inactivated Aspergillus fumigatus spores (Conidia) was used as an antigen to stimulate PBMCs produce Aspergillus-specific T lymphocytes. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) secreation, type and ratio of cytokine synthesis was examined. Results In IPA group, dot enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISPOT) showed that the positive rate of IFN-γ in pathological diagnosis patients and clinical diagnosis patients (5/6,7/9) was higher than that in tentative diagnosis patients (3/9). The positive rate of IFN-γ in IPA group was 62.5%(15/24), in healthy group was 0 (0/8), and there was significant difference (P<0.05). The levels of CD4+ T and CD4+ T/CD8+ T in IPA group were 0.202 0±0.085 6 and 1.01±0.34, in healthy group were 0.3853±0.1265 and 1.55±0.41. The levels of CD4+ T and CD4+ T/CD8+ T in IPA group were significantly lower than those in healthy group (P<0.05 or <0.01). The level of CD8+ T in IPA group was 0.298 5±0.069 1, and in healthy group was 0.257 6±0.102 6. The level of CD8+ T in IPA group was significantly higher than that in healthy group (P<0.05). Conclusion Conidia as antigen can induce the specific Th1-type immune response of IPA, and display the immune status of the IPA patients, and can provide new ideas and methods for the diagnosis and assessment of the disease. Key words: T-Lymphocytes; Interferon-gamma; Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis; Aspergillus fumigatus