Changes of T cell subsets in peripheral blood of myasthenia gravia patients and clinic significance

Objective To explore the changes of T cell subset proportions in the peripheral blood of patients with myasthenia gravia(MG)and its clinic significance.Methods Thirty-five MG patients(MG group)from Clinical Laboratory of Xinle Hospital were selected.According to Osserman classification criteria,MG patients were divided into generalized myasthenia gravis(GMG)22 cases(62.9%)and ocular myasthenia gravis(OMG)13 cases(37.1%).The expression levels of CD4+and CD8+in peripheral blood in 35 MG patients(MG group)and 32 healthy volunteers(control group)were analyzed by flow cytometry.Age,disease duration,the clinical classification and the relationship with the treatment were investigated.Results Compared with that of control group,the percentage of CD4+in MG group was significantly elevated(43.34±14.11)% vs(36.35±12.17)%(P0.05)and the percentage of CD8+in MG group was significantly decreased(26.76±4.23)%vs(35.89±7.66)%(P0.05).The ratio of CD4+/CD8+in GM group was significantly increased compared with that of control group.The percentage of CD4+and CD8+ of ocular MG patients and generalized MG patients were not significantly different(P 0.05).The longer the disease duration,the lower the CD8+ percentage,and the higher the ratio of CD4+/CD8+(P0.05).Conclusion The T cell subsets in MG patients were abnormally distributed,and they were much more apparent with increasing age and disease duration.But,there were no relationship between the proportion of T cell subsets and the clinical classification.Detection of the proportion of T cell subsets in the peripheral blood has clinical significance for the treatment of MG.