Original ArticleIntrinsic Abnormalities of Lymphocyte Counts in Children with Down Syndrome
Section snippets
Study Population
The study was performed with the informed consent of the patient's parents according to the guidelines of the medical ethics committees of Jeroen Bosch Hospital, ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Rijnstate Hospital, Arnhem. The study group comprised 96 noninstitutionalized children with DS, 50 males and 46 females, ranging in age from 1 to 20 years (mean age, 7 years). During routine follow-up of thyroid function, a small volume of EDTA blood (4 mL) was drawn for the study. All children were healthy at the
Results
The median and ranges of the absolute counts of the main lymphocyte subpopulations in 96 children with DS are listed in the Table. The median absolute counts of lymphocyte subpopulations compared with the median absolute counts of healthy children without DS15 are shown in Figure 1. The absolute counts of total lymphocytes, T and B lymphocytes, and NK cells of each child with DS in relation to the 5th, 10th, 90th, and 95th percentiles of normal15 are shown in Figure 2. No significant
Discussion
During the first years of life, massive activation, proliferation, and maturation of T and B lymphocytes occur in response to continuous encounters with antigens from the environment. In the children with DS, this early expansion of T and B lymphocytes was severely abrogated, irrespective of the frequency of infections or development of autoimmunity. This strongly suggests that a disturbance of the adaptive immune system is in fact intrinsically present in DS and is not acquired later as a
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Supported by the foundations “Het Wetenschapsfonds,” Je-roen Bosch Hospital, and “Het Irene Kinderziekenhuis.”