Clinical study on T lymphocytes influenced by smoking in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Objective To investigate influence on T lymphocytes influenced by smoking in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF)of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD)during the acute and stable periods.Methods According to the smoking history,the patients were divided into 4 groups:Normal group without smoking history(Group A),COPD group without smoking history(Group B),COPD group with continuous smoking history(Group C),COPD group with quitting smoking at least 10 years(Group D).Flow cytometry was used to test cells of CD3+,CD4+,CD8+ T cells and the levels of CD4+/CD8+ in BALF in acute and stable period respectively.Results Compared with Group A,the levels of CD3+,CD4+,CD8+,CD4+/CD8+ in BALF were significantly different in the COPD groups during their acute or stable periods(P 0.05).Compared with Group B and Group D,CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ were declined(P 0.05)as well as CD8+ was raised(P 0.05)in Group C during the acute periods;yet,there was no difference in CD3+、CD4+、CD8+(P 0.05)while CD4+/CD8+ was dropped obviously(P 0.05)during the stable periods.Conclusions The immunological function of T lymphocyte in the airway was dropped significantly in patients with COPD during acute and stable periods who smoked consistently.