Abstract

PICAGUA, E  and  CABELLO, A. Lymphocyte proliferation response with mitogen in patients with herpes labialis. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2006, vol.4, n.1, pp.11-14. ISSN 1812-9528.

Several research studies have focused on the cellular immune response in order to define the causes of the frequent recurrences of herpes simplex virus infection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the proliferative response of lymphocytes to PHA-M mitogen in patients with recurrent herpes labialis. Fifteen male and female adult patients and 14 adults without any records of herpes labialis were studied. Peripheral blood was sterilely obtained from all subjects using heparin anticoagulant. The mononuclear cells were separated on a Ficoll-Hypaque gradient and to study the cellular proliferation, 2.5 x 10⁶ cells/ml were cultured in triplicate in RPMI medium with 10% FBS at 37°C, 5% CO² stimulated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) for 72 hours. The cellular proliferation was measured using a colorimetric assay with MTT [3-(4.5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2.5- diphenyl tetrazoliumbromide]. Non-stimulated mononuclear cells were used as controls. The 15 patients studied showed good proliferative response with PHA-M and a stimulation index higher than 1 but the index was decreased comparing with the patients without records of herpes labialis being the difference between the two groups statistically significant (p<0.003). Only one patient with herpes labialis at the time of the study had a decreased proliferation index which could probably mean that the lymphocyte proliferation decrease in the crisis moment. Future studies that evaluate the specific proliferation with the herpes virus would allow us to determine if there is a defect in the cellular immunity secondary to the infection.

Keywords : Herpes labialis; cellular proliferation; PHA-M.

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