Relationship Between the Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes and the Progress of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Central China
Objective To explore the relationship between peripheral blood lymphocytes and disease progression in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS)in central China.Methods A total of 133 ALS patients diagnosed at Tongji Hospital,Tongji Medical College,Huazhong University of Science and Technology were evaluated for disease progression,and the includ-ed patients were divided into fast progression group and slow progression group.Peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets were de-termined and compared between the two groups.Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between the statistically different lymphocyte subgroups and the rate of disease progression.Results The proportion of CD3+CD19-T lymphocytes in the slow progression group was lower than that of the fast progression group(P<0.05).However,the NK cell count,NK cell proportion,and the proportion of CD28+helper T cells(CD28+Th cells)were higher than those of the fast progression group(all P<0.05).In the logistic regression analysis,an increase in NK cell count(OR=0.992,P<0.05)and an increase in the propor-tion of CD28+Th cells(OR=0.895,P<0.05)were protective factors for the progression of ALS.Conclusion The characteris-tics of peripheral lymphocytes differed between patients with slow and fast progression.Abnormalities in the innate immune sys-tem may be involved in the progression of ALS.