Journal of Diagnostics Concepts & Practice ›› 2019, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (2): 199-203.doi: 10.16150/j.1671-2870.2019.02.015

• Original articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Correlation between imbalance of T lymphocyte subsets and symptom fluctuation in patients with myasthenia gravis

LAI Xiaoyin1, SUN Jialan1, HU Rongguo1, YANG Xuelian1, WU Guolu1, LI Longxuan1(), BU Bitao2()   

  1. 1. Department of Neurology, Gongli Hospital, Pudong New Area, Shanghai 200135, China
    2. Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Wuhan 430030, China
  • Received:2018-11-05 Online:2019-04-25 Published:2019-04-25
  • Contact: LI Longxuan,BU Bitao E-mail:Longxuanlee2006@yahoo.com;bubitao@tjh.tjmu.edu.cn

Abstract:

Objective: To investigate the relationship between changes of T lymphocytes and exacerbation and remission in patients with generalized myasthenia gravis (GMG). Methods: Flow cytometry was used to detect the change of T lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of 51 patients with GMG during different periods of exacerbation and remission, and analyzed the relationship between the changes of T lymphocytes and symptom fluctuations. Results: The percentage of CD4+CD25+CD127low/-regulatory T lymphocytes and CD4+CD45RA+naive T lymphocytes was significantly lower in exacerbation period than that in control group (P<0.05), whereas the percentage of CD4+CD45RO+ memory T lymphocytes in exacerbation period was significantly higher than that in remission period and control group(P<0.05). The AUC of CD4+CD25+CD127low/-regulatory T lymphocytes and CD4+CD45RA+naive T lymphocytes were 0.713 and 0.900, respectively. The AUC of CD4+CD45RO+ memory T lymphocytes in exacerbation period was 0.675 and the optimum critical value was 32.06%. Conclusions: Regulatory T lymphocytes and CD4+CD45RA+naive T lymphocytes have diagnostic value for GMG. CD4+CD45RO+ memory T lymphocytes are correlated with symptom aggravation and remission of GMG, and may be used as a marker for measuring the symptom fluctuation of myasthenia gravis.

Key words: Myasthenia gravis, T lymphocyte subsets, Flow cytometry

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