The clinical significance of T lymphocyte subset in the children patients with community acquired pneumonia

Objective To observe the effect of T cell subset in the children patients with community acquired pneumonia. Methods A total of 36 patients with community acquired pneumonia were enrolled and they were divided into 2 groups according to pathogen, bacterial infection group, and non-bacterial infection group. And in another way they were divided into severe cases group and non-severe cases group. Indexes of T lymphocyte subset CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+ and activity of natural killer (NK) cell were detected in all patients by flow cytometry and compared. Results The levels of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+ and NK cell had no significant difference between bacterial infection group and non-bacterial infection group (P>0.05). The levels of CD3+, CD4+ and CD19+ had no significant difference between severe cases group and non-severe cases group (P>0.05). But the level of CD8+ in severe cases group was significantly higher than that in non-severe cases group: (28.4 ± 7.8)% vs. (14.4 ± 3.5)%, P <0.01. The level of NK cell in severe cases group was significantly lower than that in non-severe cases group: (7.3 ± 2.1)% vs. (16.6 ± 5.4)%, P<0.01. Conclusions The children patients with community acquired pneumonia patients may develop into severe pneumonia with high percent of CD8+ or low activity of NK cell. So they should be given immune intervention as soon as possible. Key words: Pneumonia; Community acquired infections; T-lymphocytes; Natural killer T-cells); Child