E. Cillari et al., DEPRESSION OF CD4 T-CELL SUBSETS AND ALTERATION IN CYTOKINE PROFILE IN BOUTONNEUSE FEVER, The Journal of infectious diseases, 174(5), 1996, pp. 1051-1057
Interferon (IFN)-gamma, interleukin (IL)-10, IL-6, and tumor necrosis
factor (TNF)-alpha were significantly increased in sera from Sicilian
patients with acute boutonneuse fever (BF) compared with those of heal
thy controls, IFN-gamma levels dropped sharply within the second week
after infection, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-alpha levels gradually declined;
in convalescent patients only were they in the normal range, In contr
ast, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated in vitro wit
h phytohemagglutinin (PHA) produced low levels of IL-10 and IFN-gamma
in acute BF that were compatible with the reduction in the levels of C
D4(+), CD4(+)/CD45RO(+), and CD4(+)/CD45RA(+) cells. In vitro producti
on of TNF-alpha and IL-6 from PBMC stimulated with PHA was not signifi
cantly modified during the various phases of the infection compared wi
th control PBMC, which could be due to the persistence of high levels
of CD14(+) monocytes compensating for the decrease in CD20(+) B cells.