Th17 Lymphocytes Percentage in Peripheral Blood of Iranian Patients with Autosomal Recessive Hyper IgE Syndrome

Patients with Hyper-IgE syndrome suffer from fungal and bacterial infections, especially Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus. Due to the important role of T helper17 (Th17) lymphocytes in defense against fungal infections, the percentage of Th17 lymphocytes was studied in the patients with autosomal recessive hyper-IgE syndrome (AR-HIES).
In this case-control study, six patients with AR-HIES (with DOCK-8 mutation) and seven healthy age and sex-matched controls were included. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from their venous blood and the percentage of Th17 lymphocytes were determined by flow cytometry.
There was no statistical difference between the percentage of Th17 lymphocytes (p=0.15) in the case and control groups. Also in comparison to the control subjects, the numbers of eosinophils were dramatically increased (p=0.000). Also, there was a significant negative correlation between serum IgE levels and Th17 lymphocytes’ percentage (r=-0.927, p=0.006) and a significant positive correlation between eosinophils number and Th17 lymphocytes’ percentage (r=0.557, p=0.01). Serum IgE levels showed a significant positive correlation with the numbers of eosinophils in the patients’ peripheral blood with AR-HIES (r=0.961, p=0.003).
The numbers of Th17 in the patients with AR-HIES may not show statistical differences between the cases and controls. The numbers of eosinophils significantly increased in the patients AR-HIES compare to the controls.