Skip to main content
PMC home page
Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology
. 1995 Mar;2(2):205–208. doi: 10.1128/cdli.2.2.205-208.1995

Flow cytometric analyses of the lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of children with untreated active juvenile dermatomyositis.

M R O'Gorman 1, V Corrochano 1, J Roleck 1, M Donovan 1, L M Pachman 1
PMCID: PMC170128  PMID: 7697530

Abstract

Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDMS) is a vasculopathy affecting primarily skin and muscle. Although the etiology is unknown, immunopathogenetic mechanisms appear to play a role in both the susceptibility to the disease and its progression. We measured the percentage and absolute numbers of B cells and T-cell subsets in the peripheral blood of untreated JDMS patients with active early disease and compared the results with those obtained from a study of peripheral blood obtained from a heatlhy age-related control group. The absolute number of total lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of the JDMS patients was significantly lower (P < 0.002) than that observed in the healthy control population, with an associated decrease in the absolute number of all T-cell subsets. No concomitant decrease in the absolute number of B lymphocytes was observed in the JDMS patients. In contrast, the percentage of B lymphocytes and the T-helper/T-suppressor cell ratio were significantly higher in the JDMS group than in the control group (P < 0.001 and P < 0.002, respectively). Retrospective analysis of JDMS patients' serum samples obtained within 1 month of the flow cytometric evaluation indicated that 79% of the sera contained an antinuclear antibody and 46% had immunoglobulin G values above age-adjusted reference ranges. The increased percentage of B cells, the increased T-helper/T-suppressor cell ratio, the positive antinuclear antibody results, and the increased concentration of serum immunoglobulin suggest that humoral immune dysregulation may contribute to the pathogenesis of JDMS.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (188.6 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Ben-Bassat M., Machtey I. Picornavirus-like structures in acute dermatomyositis. Am J Clin Pathol. 1972 Sep;58(3):245–249. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/58.3.245. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bohan A., Peter J. B. Polymyositis and dermatomyositis (first of two parts). N Engl J Med. 1975 Feb 13;292(7):344–347. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197502132920706. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bowles N. E., Dubowitz V., Sewry C. A., Archard L. C. Dermatomyositis, polymyositis, and Coxsackie-B-virus infection. Lancet. 1987 May 2;1(8540):1004–1007. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(87)92271-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Christensen M. L., Pachman L. M., Schneiderman R., Patel D. C., Friedman J. M. Prevalence of Coxsackie B virus antibodies in patients with juvenile dermatomyositis. Arthritis Rheum. 1986 Nov;29(11):1365–1370. doi: 10.1002/art.1780291109. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Denny T., Yogev R., Gelman R., Skuza C., Oleske J., Chadwick E., Cheng S. C., Connor E. Lymphocyte subsets in healthy children during the first 5 years of life. JAMA. 1992 Mar 18;267(11):1484–1488. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Friedman J. M., Pachman L. M., Maryjowski M. L., Radvany R. M., Crowe W. E., Hanson V., Levinson J. E., Spencer C. H. Immunogenetic studies of juvenile dermatomyositis: HLA-DR antigen frequencies. Arthritis Rheum. 1983 Feb;26(2):214–216. doi: 10.1002/art.1780260216. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ichikawa Y., Shimizu H., Yoshida M., Arimori S. Activation of T cell subsets in the peripheral blood of patients with Sjögren's syndrome. Multicolor flow cytometric analysis. Arthritis Rheum. 1990 Nov;33(11):1674–1681. doi: 10.1002/art.1780331110. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Ilonen J., Surcel H. M., Kär M. L. Abnormalities within CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes subsets in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. Clin Exp Immunol. 1991 Aug;85(2):278–281. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1991.tb05718.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ishida T., Matsumoto Y., Ohashi M., Sasaki R. Analysis of lymphocyte subpopulations in peripheral blood in adult and juvenile cases of dermatomyositis. J Dermatol. 1993 Jan;20(1):30–34. doi: 10.1111/j.1346-8138.1993.tb03825.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Klinman D. M., Shirai A., Ishigatsubo Y., Conover J., Steinberg A. D. Quantitation of IgM- and IgG-secreting B cells in the peripheral blood of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum. 1991 Nov;34(11):1404–1410. doi: 10.1002/art.1780341110. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Leff R. L., Love L. A., Miller F. W., Greenberg S. J., Klein E. A., Dalakas M. C., Plotz P. H. Viruses in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: absence of candidate viral genomes in muscle. Lancet. 1992 May 16;339(8803):1192–1195. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(92)91134-t. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Medsger T. A., Jr, Dawson W. N., Jr, Masi A. T. The epidemiology of polymyositis. Am J Med. 1970 Jun;48(6):715–723. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9343(70)80006-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Miller F. W., Love L. A., Barbieri S. A., Balow J. E., Plotz P. H. Lymphocyte activation markers in idiopathic myositis: changes with disease activity and differences among clinical and autoantibody subgroups. Clin Exp Immunol. 1990 Sep;81(3):373–379. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1990.tb05341.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Montecucco C., Ravelli A., Caporali R., Viola S., De Gennaro F., Albani S., Martini A. Autoantibodies in juvenile dermatomyositis. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 1990 Mar-Apr;8(2):193–196. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pachman L. M., Friedman J. M., Maryjowski-Sweeney M. L., Jonnason O., Radvany R. M., Sharp G. C., Cobb M. A., Battles N. D., Crowe W. E., Fink C. W. Immunogenetic studies of juvenile dermatomyositis. III. Study of antibody to organ-specific and nuclear antigens. Arthritis Rheum. 1985 Feb;28(2):151–157. doi: 10.1002/art.1780280208. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Pachman L. M. Juvenile dermatomyositis: a clinical overview. Pediatr Rev. 1990 Oct;12(4):117–125. doi: 10.1542/pir.12-4-117. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Pachman L. M., Maryjowski M. C. Juvenile dermatomyositis and polymyositis. Clin Rheum Dis. 1984 Apr;10(1):95–115. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Reed A. M., Pachman L., Ober C. Molecular genetic studies of major histocompatibility complex genes in children with juvenile dermatomyositis: increased risk associated with HLA-DQA1 *0501. Hum Immunol. 1991 Dec;32(4):235–240. doi: 10.1016/0198-8859(91)90085-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES