The Number and Proportion of Vϒ9Vδ2 T Cells Rise Significantly in the Peripheral Blood of Patients After the Onset of Acute Coxiella burnetii Infection

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 261 - 264
• Main Authors: Schneider, Thomas, Jahn, Hans-Ulrich, Liesenfeld, Oliver, Steinhoff, Dagmar, Riecken, Ernst-Otto, Zeitz, Martin, Ullrich, Reiner
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The University of Chicago Press 01.02.1997
• ISSN: 1058-4838; 1537-6591
• DOI: 10.1093/clinids/24.2.261

We conducted serial studies on peripheral blood lymphocytes from four patients with acute Coxiella burnetii infection. These studies revealed that the proportion of ϒδ T cells in these patients significantly increased after the onset of disease (mean, 16%; range, 13%–30%) as compared with that in five healthy controls (mean, 4%; range, 0.5%–7%; P < .0055) and that in five controls with pneumonia (mean, 2%; range, 1%–3%; P < .0014). Most of the ϒδ T cells from these patients expressed the Vϒ9Vδ2 gene product. During the acute phase of disease, most ϒδ T cells expressed the activation marker human leukocyte antigen DR but not CD25. During this phase, ϒ;δ T cell activation was higher than αβ T cell activation. Our findings indicate that ϒδ T cells are predominantly involved in the acute immune response to C. burnetii.