Lopez-Gonzalez M A, Lucas M, Sanchez B, Mata F, Delgado F
Unit of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, Virgen del Rocio University Infantile Hospital, Sevilla, Spain.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 1998 Oct 15;45(3):215-22. doi: 10.1016/s0165-5876(98)00115-3.
Tonsils and adenoids are secondary lymphoid organs exposed to the environment. The most important classifications of AIDS include the lymphocyte subsets of peripheral blood. We have studied the lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood and secondary lymphoid organs in a control group of children suffering adenotonsillar pathology and in five children with AIDS and the same adenotonsillar pathology. The antigen surface markers were determined by flow cytometry in lymphocytes isolated from peripheral blood, and from tonsils and adenoids after tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, in the control group and in children diagnosed with AIDS. The most important findings in tonsils and adenoids were a decrease of the total T lymphocytes, helper T lymphocytes and CD4/CD8 ratio; an increase of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes, as well as a 200% increase in monocytes of AIDS-affected children. These observations show the value of analyzing the lymphocyte subsets of the tonsils and adenoids of AIDS-affected children, and establishing an earlier relation to clinical symptoms.
