Evaluation of cd4+ and cd8+ lymphocyte counts in patients with tuberculosis infection

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis is a public health disease and has been observed to affect the immune system of individuals.
Aim: The effect of tuberculosis on the immune system has prompted this study to evaluate the CD4+ and CD8+ cells of individuals diagnosed with tuberculosis attending the Chest Clinic at Central Hospital, Agbor.
Method: A total of five hundred (500) suspected tuberculosis (Tb) subjects where screened and one hundred and forty six (146) confirmed Tb cases were used for the study. This comprises of 113 Tb cases only and 33 Tb/HIV co-infected cases while thirty-eight (38) healthy subjects was used as control with an age range of 8-75years and mean age of 35.41±1.15years were recruited. The sputa were examined using Genexpert to confirm Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Five millilitres (5ml) of blood were collected from subjects and analysed for CD4+, CD8+ cells using Partec CyFlow Counter. HIV Status was determined according to the Nigeria national HIV testing algorithm. Mean ±SEM were determined using statistical package for social sciences.
Results: A prevalence of 29.5% (146) was observed for tuberculosis with females 63% having the highest burden as against males with 37% while the age group 16-45years had the highest prevalence rate. The mean ± standard error of the mean of CD4+ was significantly (p<0.05) lower in Tb suspects (605.5 ± 136.43 cells/μl) than control subjects (848.15 ± 80.27 cells/μl) but significantly (p<0.05) higher than co-infected (TB/HIV) (367.35±99.73 cells/μl) and HIV positive subjects (329.12 ±61.37 cells/μl). Likewise, tuberculosis subjects had significantly (p<0.05) lower CD8 cell counts (388.15 ± 31.98 cells/μl) than control subjects (641.71± 128.48 cells/μl) but no significant (p>0.05) difference observed between co-infected and HIV subjects when compared.
Conclusion: It is therefore pertinent to state that CD4+ cannot be used as a biomarker for tuberculosis disease progression.