[Peripheral blood gamma delta T cells in multiple sclerosis].

The presence of T lymphocytes bearing the gamma delta T cell receptor (gamma delta T cells) has been studied in peripheral blood from 21 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and 13 normal controls. The amount of gamma delta T cells of CD3 positive T cells in MS was (mean +/- SEM; 7.7 +/- 1.3%) higher than in normal controls (5.5 +/- 1.0%), but not significantly. However, in MS group, 6 patients had definitely a higher frequency of gamma delta T cells, exceeding the mean +/- 2SD of normal control (22.3, 18.5, 17.7, 14.8, 12.0, 10.3%). Furthermore, there is no correlation between the presence of gamma delta T cells and disease type, clinical course, disease duration and disability score. But some patients with short disease duration tend to have higher proportion of gamma delta T cells than in other patients. It is suggested that gamma delta T cells might be related to causes of the disease of some MS patients in early phase.