T-lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with respiratory allergy.

communications to the editor Communications for this section will be published as space and priorities permit. The comments should not exceed 350 words in length, with a maximum offive references; onefigure or table can be printed. Exceptions may occur under particular circumstance& Contributions may include comments on articles publ&,ed in thts periodical, or they may be reports ofunique educational character Specific permission to publzsh should be cited in a covering letter or appended as a postscript. We have read with great interest the study done by Kus et al,' in which they find that suppressor lymphocytes are decreased in number in a patient with Churg-Strauss syndrome. They hypothesize on the possible role that these T-lymphocyte subpopulations might play in the pathogenesis of this syndrome. We have studied the average percent ofT-lymphocyte subpopula-tions in peripheral blood using monoclonal antibodies in 152 patients with bronchial asthma and/or extrinsic allergic rhinitis and in 30 healthy subjects (control group). We have found significantly decreased 0Km levels in patients with respiratory allergy as compared to the control group (allergic 25.35, control 30.46; p<O.OOl). This suggests that a pathogenic role is played by these T-lymphocyte subpopulations in allergic disease, as other authors have affirmed.2 Tse et al3 have also found a significant decrease in suppressor lymphocytes in patients with bronchial asthma (without Churg-Strauss syndrome). Our study also demonstrates, as does Hsieh,4 a decrease in helper lymphocytes (OKT4) in patients with respiratory allergy (Table 1). It is possible that the patient studied by Kus et al, who had pathologic levels of IgE, presented changes in suppressor lympho-cytes as a manifestation of a respiratory allergy. Lymphocyte subpopulations in allergic granulomatosis and an-giitis (Churg-Strauss). Imbalances of T-cell subpopulations in patients with atopic diseases and effect of specific immunotherapy. Table 1-Results ofT-lymphocytes subpopulations in the 30 healthy subjects and 152 patients affected by respiratory allergy Lymphocytes subpopulations in asthmatics. 4 Hsieh KH. Changes of lymphoproliferation responses of T-cell subsets to allergen and mitogen after hyposensitization in asthmatic children. We agree that the literature cited demonstrates changes in T-cell subpopulations as suggested with decreased OKT8, although unlike J ustribo et al, other authors " 2 do not observe decreased OKT4 and therefore report an increased OKT4IOKT8. We would further agree that this appears to be markers of respiratory allergy and note the evidence that, with treatment of the allergy, improvement toward normal can be observed in these parameters.' We would note, …