Influence of surgery on the regulatory T cell levels in peripheral blood for patients with cavitary tuberculosis

Objective To analyze the regulatory T cell （ CD4 ＋CD25 ＋FoxP3 ＋T） levels in peripheral blood of patients with cavitary tuberculosis before and after surgery .Methods We compared the proportion of CD4 ＋CD25high T cells and CD4 ＋CD25 ＋FoxP3 ＋T cells in 13 patients with cavity tuberculosis pre-and post-operatively and in 10 healthy control subjects with flow cytometry .Results （1） The proportion of CD4 ＋CD25high T cells and CD4 ＋CD25 ＋FoxP3 ＋T cells were significantly higher in patients with cavity tuberculosis and at 1-month postoperatively than that in healthy controls（P〈0.01）.The proportion of CD4 ＋CD25high T cells and CD4 ＋CD25 ＋FoxP3 ＋T cells had no statistical significance between the patients with cavity tuberculosis at 6-months postoperatively and healthy controls （P〉0.05）.（2）The proportion of CD4 ＋CD25high T cells and CD4 ＋CD25 ＋FoxP3 ＋T cells decreased significantly af-ter 6 months surgery than preoperatively in patients with cavity tuberculosis （P〈0.01）.（3）Pre-and post-operative proportions of CD4 ＋CD25high T cells and CD4 ＋CD25 ＋FoxP3 ＋T cells showed a positive correlation （ r=0.878,P〈0.01 ） .Conclusion The proportion of the circulating T regulatory cells increases in patients with cavity tuberculosis , and decreases after surgery .Infection with M.tuberculosis may induce regulatory T cell-surface molecular changes. Key words: Tuberculosis,Pulmonary; Pulmonary Surgical Procedures; T-Lymphocytes,Regulatory