QUANTITATIVE AND FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF PERIPHERAL T-LYMPHOCYTES IN THYROID DISEASES

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Abstract
A functional as well as quantitative assessment of the peripheral T [thymus-derived] lymphocytes was made in 90 patients with various forms of thyroid diseases, 43 with Graves'' disease (GD), 23 with non-toxic multinodular goiter (NTMG), 18 with toxic nodular goiter (TNG) and 12 with well-differentiated thyroid cancer (TC), using the E [erythrocyte] rosette-forming test and the local graft-vs.-host reaction (GVHR). Forty healthy volunteers served as controls. The glands removed from the 38 patients who underwent operation were evaluated histologically for lymphocytic infiltration. The percentage of E rosette-forming cells was significantly lower than normal (58.0 .+-. 9.03) in the patients with GD (48.7 .+-. 9.83, P < 0.01), NTMG (47.61 .+-. 12.34, P < 0.01) and TNG (48.8 .+-. 11.1, P < 0.02). The absolute T cell count was significantly lower than normal (1207 .+-. 443) in the patients with GD (973 .+-. 331, P < 0.05) and NTMG (890 .+-. 360, P < 0.02). The GVHR was completely negative or weakly positive in only 2 of the 40 (5%) controls, in 14 of the 39 (35.9%) patients with GD, 14 of the 23 (60.8%) with NTMG, 9 of the 17 (53%) with TNG and 3 of the 12 (25%) with TC. The amount of lymphocytic infiltration in the surgical specimen showed no correlation with the T cell count and GVHR of the peripheral blood lymphocytes of the patients. Analysis of the data in the group as a whole also failed to reveal any correlation between the GVHR and E rosette test. The GVHR is a functional test while the E rosette is a quantitative test. There was apparently an impairment in the functional activity of the T lymphocytes, patients with nodular goiter having shown a more pronounced impairment of cell-mediated immunity than those with GD and TC.