LYMPHOCYTE SUBPOPULATIONS IN DOWNS-SYNDROME - HIGH PERCENTAGE OF CIRCULATING HNK-1+, LEU 2A+ CELLS

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  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 57  (1) , 220-226
Abstract
Peripheral blood lymphomononuclear cells (PBL) from 35 patients with Down''s syndrome (DS, trisomy-21; 25 institutionalized and 10 non-institutionalized) were phenotypically characterized by means of various monoclonal antibodies. They included a high percentage of T lymphocytes with low avidity for sheep erythrocytes [natural killer] as well as an extremely high percentage of HNK-1+ cells and of lymphocytes reacting with the OKT8 and Leu 2a antibodies. The HNK-1+ cells of DS include 4 different subsets: (a) E+, OKT3+, OKT8-, Leu2a-; (b) E+, OKT3+, OKT8+, Leu2a+; (c) E-, OKT3-, OKT8-, Leu2a-; and (d) E-, OKT3-, OKT8-, Leu2a+. Subsets (a) and (c) are also present in PBL from karyotypically normal controls, while subsets (b) and (d) have a phenotype which has not been previously reported. The findings may be related to the triple expression by trisomic cells of the receptor for interferon, which is coded by a gene located on chromosome number 21. The high number of immature NK [natural killer] cells of DS, possibly identical with pre-T lymphocytes, may originate from the congenital thymic derangement associated with trisomy 21.