Abstract
The role of the immunological reaction has recently been noticed as the forming mechanism of pneumonia due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pn.) and the authors analyzed lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in 12 pneumomia patients due to M. pn..
The subjects comprised 3 males and 9 females, the youngest patient being 20 and the oldest 54 years old, the age averaging 31.5 years. Peripheral blood and BALF were sampled in the acute stage, when an abnormal chest X-ray shadow was still present, ranging from day 9 to day 71 of the illness (average: day 24).
In the peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets, the OKT 4/8 ratio was significantly lowered (0.97±0.45, p<0.001) compared with that of the control group, and this was due to a decrease of the real number of OKT4+. In the BALF cells, the lymphocytes and neutrophils increased, and in the lymphocyte subsets, an increase in the activating T-cells of OKIa 1 positive was suggested, and the OKT 4/8 ratio was elevated to an average of 2.1, contrary to the results in the peripheral blood. Considering these findings, it was inferred that T-cells, which are responsible for immunity, played a certain role in the establishment of pneumonia due to M. pn..
