CD4+ T cell function and IL2/IFN-γ production in major β thalassemia patients

Introduction: Major β thalassemia is one of the main health concerns in Iran. Infection is oneof the major causes of morbidity and mortality in such patients and is supposed to be theresult of immunologic alterations. Defect in cytokine production has been one of the areas ofresearch in the past decade, but the data are not convincing and are sometimes controversial.In the present study, the frequency of IL2 and IFN-γ producing CD4+ T cells were evaluated.Methods: In this cross sectional, descriptive analytic study, 26 patients with β thalassemiamajor referring to Hajar Hospital, Shahrekord, Iran and 26 age and gender-matched healthycontrols were participated. The frequency of IL2 and IFN-γ producing CD4+ T cells weredetected using heparinized blood and intracellular cytokine detection method with wholeblood.Results: IL2 producing CD4+ T cells were significantly lower in patients than control(P<0.05).The frequency of IFN-γ producing CD4+ T cells and IL2/IFN-γ producing were notsignificantly different than control (P> 0.05).Conclusion: Reduction of IL2 production in CD4+ T cells may be the result of CD4+ T cellsuppression and a marker of early immunoscenecense in this subset of T cells in major βthalassemia.

Keywords:

CD4+ T cells , IL2 , IFN-γ , intracellular cytokine detection