We have undertaken a comparative immunephenotypic study of
spleen cells from hepatosplenic patients (HS) and uninfected
individuals (NOR) using flow cytometry. Our data did not show any
significant differences in the mean percentage of T-cells and B-cells
between the two groups. Analysis of activated T-cells demonstrated
that HS present an increased percentage of CD3+HLA-DR+ splenocytes in
comparison to NOR. Analysis of T-cell subsets demonstrated a
significant increase on the percentage of both activated CD4+
T-splenocytes and CD8+ cells in HS. We did not find any difference in
the mean percentage of CD28+ T-cells. Analysis of the B-cell
compartment did not show any difference on the percentage of
B1-splenocytes. However, the spleen seems to be an important
reservoir/source for B1 lymphocytes during hepatosplenic disease,
since after splenectomy we found a decreased the percentage of
circulating B1-lymphocytes. We observed an increase on the percentage
of CD2+CD3- lymphocytes in the spleen of HS suggesting that the loss
of CD3 by activated T-cells or the expansion of NK-cells might play a
role in the development/maintenance of splenomegaly.
