CHANGES OF HLA-DR ANTIGEN EXPRESSION ON MONOCYTES IN CHILDREN AND THEIR CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE IN SEPSIS

Temporary immunodeficiency is often associated with various pathological conditions, such as myocardial infarction, severe trauma, or major surgery. However, there are no clinical criterions indicative for presence or absence of such immune deficiency. Meanwhile, clinical signs of infectious complications may be absent because of deficient immune response. A technique for monitoring septic conditions in the patients with open traumas and during postsurgical period has been proposed, employing a flow-cytometric approach. The evaluation principle for septic conditions consists of measuring expression of HLA-DR antigens at the surface of peripheral blood monocytes. As a criterion of patient evaluation in septic state, a relative amount of monocytes expressing HLA-DR may be applied, and the disease prognosis is considered as favorable, if the amounts of positive cells exceed 40% by day 5 after the patient was admitted to the hospital, and an adequate treatment was carried out. This technique may find wide application for estimation and monitoring of septic conditions in the patients. (Med. Immunol., vol. 10, N 4-5, pp 379-388).