Investigation of Lymphocyte Subsets in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Dyslipidemia

Da-Ming Xu,1,&ast; Qian Li,2,&ast; Jing-Xing Yi,3,&ast; Xin-Jian Cai,3 Long Xie,3 Wei Fang,3 Jin-Feng Qiu,4 Cheng-Wei Xu,5 Chun-Ling He,6 Xian-Ru Xu,7 Jie-Song Xu,8 Jun Yin2,3 1Division of Urological Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 2Division of Hematology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 4Division of Respirology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Blood Purification, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Pathology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 7Division of Interventional Ultrasonic Therapeutics, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Electroencephalogram, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jun YinDepartment of Clinical Laboratory Medicine and Division of Hematology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Dongxia Road North, Shantou, Guangdong Province, 515041, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 754 8891 5950Email jyin@stu.edu.cnObjective: In order to evaluate the effect of dyslipidemia on cellular or humoral immunity in patients, changes in the absolute number of lymphocyte subsets were detected.Methods: Flow cytometry was applied to determine the absolute value of lymphocyte subsets: B cell, NK cell, CD4+ T cell including the functional subset (CD4+CD28+), native subset (CD4+CD45RA+CD62L+), memory T cell subset (CD4+CD45RA−), CD8+ T cell including the functional subset (CD8+CD28+) and activated subsets (CD8+CD38+ and CD8+DR+). The relationship between lymphocyte subsets and hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia was analyzed.Results: The absolute values of CD19+ B cell, CD3+ T cell, CD4+ Th cell, CD4+CD28+ cell, naive CD4+ T cell and memory CD4+ T cell in patients with dyslipidemia were markedly higher than those in healthy controls (P< 0.05). There was no significant difference between healthy controls and dyslipidemia patients in other lymphocyte subsets (P> 0.05). The absolute values of CD3+ T cell and naive CD4+ T cell were significantly positively correlated with hypercholesterolemia in peripheral blood (r=0.291 and 0.306, respectively, all P< 0.05). There was no significant correlation between hypertriglyceridemia and lymphocyte subsets (P> 0.05).Conclusion: Dyslipidemia has potential effects on immune profiles in lymphocytes subsets, and changes in lymphocyte subsets in dyslipidemia patients may lead to immune dysfunction.Keywords: dyslipidemia, lymphocyte subsets, flow cytometry