Imbalance in lymphocyte composition and cytokine profile as a risk factor of vibration disease

To provide consistent functioning of the immune and nervous systems, both in normal conditions and in case of any pathology, is among the most significant functions performed by the cytokine system. It seems important to examine mechanisms underlying the well-coordinated working of the immune system since such studies can give grounds for developing certain criteria applied to assess risks of developing vibration disease (VD) and making prognosis for it. Our research goal was to identify peculiarities related to the balance in the phenotypic composition of lymphocytes and cytokines as risk factors of developing vibration disease. We estimated the phenotypic structure of lymphocytes by indirect immunofluorescence using monoclonal antibodies to CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD16+, CD20+, CD25+, and CD95+ molecules. IL-2, IL-4, IL-8, and INF-γ cytokines were determined in blood serum with the solid-phase ELISA method. We analyzed cytokine contents in patients with VD and established a statistically significant growth in levels of IL-8 and INF-γ and a decrease in IL-2 contents against the reference group. We also found certain differences in the correlations between lymphocytes and cytokines in patients with VD and healthy people. Thus, in patients with VD, there was a positive correlation between the absolute number of CD3+-lymphocytes and the level of the immune-stimulating IL-2 and a positive correlation between the quantity of CD4+-lymphocytes and IL-4 concentration. At the same time, having examined healthy people from the reference group, we detected a negative correlation between IFNγ and the absolute quantity of CD3+ and CD95+-lymphocytes. Therefore, the risk of developing and progressing vibration disease is to a certain extent associated with its pathogenetic peculiarities based, among other things, on complex functional relationships between lymphocytic phenotypes and pro-anti-inflammatory cytokines. In future this will allow substantiating new biomarkers in the additional VD diagnostics.