Lymphocyte phenotyping, using cluster-of-differentiation (CD) markers, in young Iraqi children with visceral leishmaniasis.

The lymphocytic phenotypes involved in the pathogenesis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Iraqi children have recently been investigated, in a study based on cluster-of-differentiation (CD) markers. Each case of VL investigated was confirmed parasitologically by the observation of amastigotes in a bone-marrow smear. Compared with the values for the healthy children used as controls, a lymphocyte from an untreated VL case was significantly less likely to be CD3+ or CD4+, significantly more likely to be CD8+, and more (but not significantly more) likely to be CD22+. The untreated cases also had significantly lower CD4+/CD8+ ratios than the controls. Among the untreated cases, gender and age had no apparent effect on any of these variables. After 28 days of treatment with sodium stibogluconate, there was a trend towards normalization in the lymphocytic phenotypes of the VL cases, with significant increases in the CD4+/CD8+ ratios and the percentages of lymphocytes that were CD3+ or CD4+, and a significant decrease in the percentages of lymphocytes that were CD22+.