Abstract:

Objective   To investigate the relationship between virus infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to explore the effect of virus infections on T lymphocyte subsets in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Methods   Serum samples from 268 patients with acute exacerbation of COPD (group A), 92 patients with stable COPD (group B), and 76 healthy subjects (group C) were tested for specific IgM and IgG antibodies for viruses. According to the above detection, serum from patients with positive IgM in group A (group D), group B and group C were tested and compared for T lymphocyte subsets. Results   The positive rate of IgM was significantly higher in group A (20.5%) compared to group B (3.3%) and group C (3.9%). There were no significant differences in the positive rates of IgG between group A (74.2%) and group B (70.7%), but the positive rates of IgG in the two groups were higher than in group C (31.6%).  In group B, expressions of CD3+, CD4+, CD4+/CD8+ were significantly lower than in group C, but CD8+ was higher. There was no difference in CD3+ expression in group B in contrast to group D. CD4+, CD4+/CD8+ were lower and CD8+ were higher in group D than group B. Conclusion   Viral infection is common and important in COPD, and it may aggravate T lymphocyte subsets function.

Key words: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Virus; T lymphocyte subsets