Boyko W J, Schechter M T, MacLeod A, Douglas B, Maynard M, Sharp R, Wiggs B
CMAJ. 1986 May 1;134(9):1013-7.
Abnormalities of lymphocyte subsets, especially low absolute number of helper T cells, are characteristically present in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Similar abnormalities can be found in patients with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL) or AIDS-related complex (ARC) and, to a lesser degree, in asymptomatic people who have been exposed to human T-lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III). Nevertheless, there appears to be a widespread perception that lymphocyte subset analysis may be useful in AIDS case finding within high-risk groups. We evaluated the diagnostic utility of absolute number of helper T cells and ratio of helper to suppressor T cells in 33 patients with AIDS, 43 patients with PGL who had been referred for lymph node biopsy, 90 patients with PGL and 195 male homosexual controls. At conventional cutoff levels the tests did not appear to revise the probability of AIDS upward to any clinically significant degree when the pretest probability of AIDS was low. Lymphocyte subset analysis does not appear to be a cost-effective method of AIDS case finding in identified groups at risk in which the prevalence of AIDS is low.
淋巴细胞亚群异常，尤其是辅助性T细胞绝对数量减少，是获得性免疫缺陷综合征（AIDS）的典型特征。持续性全身性淋巴结肿大（PGL）或艾滋病相关综合征（ARC）患者也可出现类似异常，在接触过人类嗜T淋巴细胞病毒III型（HTLV-III）的无症状人群中也有程度较轻的类似情况。然而，人们普遍认为淋巴细胞亚群分析可能有助于在高危人群中发现艾滋病病例。我们评估了33例艾滋病患者、43例因淋巴结活检而转诊的PGL患者、90例PGL患者和195名男性同性恋对照者的辅助性T细胞绝对数量及辅助性T细胞与抑制性T细胞的比例的诊断效用。在传统的临界值水平下，当艾滋病的预测试概率较低时，这些检测似乎并未将艾滋病的概率显著提高到任何临床显著程度。在已确定的艾滋病低流行风险人群中，淋巴细胞亚群分析似乎不是一种具有成本效益的艾滋病病例发现方法。
