T Cell Response in Patients with Implanted Biological and Mechanical Prosthetic Heart Valves

Abstract EN

The study was aimed at assessing T cell subsets of peripheral blood from recipients of long-term functioning (more than 60 months) biological and mechanical heart valve prostheses.

The absolute and relative number of CD4 and CD8 T cell subsets was analyzed: naïve (N, CD45RA+CD62L+), central memory (CM, CD45RA−CD62L+), effector memory (EM, CD45RA−CD62L−), and terminally differentiated CD45RA-positive effector memory (TEMRA, CD45RA+CD62L−) in 25 persons with biological and 7 with mechanical prosthesis compared with 48 apparently healthy volunteers.

The relative and absolute number of central memory and naïve CD3+CD8+ in patients with biological prosthesis was decreased ( p < 0.001 ).

Meanwhile the number of CD45RA+CD62L−CD3+CD8+ and CD3+CD4+ was increased ( p < 0.001 ).

Patients with mechanical prosthesis had increased absolute and relative number of CD45RA+CD62L−CD3+CD8+ cells ( p = 0.006 ).

Also the relative number of CD3+CD4+ cells was reduced ( p = 0.04 ).

We assume that altered composition of T cell subsets points at development of xenograft rejection reaction against both mechanical and biological heart valve prostheses.