• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To register, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Low LYMPHOCYTE CD8 count?

D

Dan_USAAZ

Senior Member
Messages
174
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Yes, low CD8 is typical for me. No explanation.

1595036410389.png
 
D

Dan_USAAZ

Senior Member
Messages
174
Location
Phoenix, AZ
bread. said:
how severe are you?
Click to expand...

I vacillate between severe and the low end of moderate. All depends on my physical and mental exertion. If I do absolutely nothing for a week, I am low end of moderate. Unfortunately, that's not living, but you all know that already .....

I will post back if I learn any additional information on low CD8. All I know thus far is very vague. One doctor suggested it is a common finding in autoimmune diseases. Another individual suggested that it could be related to HHV-6 and it's ability to shift T-cell expression from CD8 to CD4. That activity is why HHV-6 is considered an HIV "helper" virus. I have not seen any documentation that suggests this CD8>CD4 shift would show up in standard lymphocyte blood work.
 
B

bread.

Senior Member
Messages
498
Dan_USAAZ said:
I vacillate between severe and the low end of moderate. All depends on my physical and mental exertion. If I do absolutely nothing for a week, I am low end of moderate. Unfortunately, that's not living, but you all know that already .....

I will post back if I learn any additional information on low CD8. All I know thus far is very vague. One doctor suggested it is a common finding in autoimmune diseases. Another individual suggested that it could be related to HHV-6 and it's ability to shift T-cell expression from CD8 to CD4. That activity is why HHV-6 is considered an HIV "helper" virus. I have not seen any documentation that suggests this CD8>CD4 shift would show up in standard lymphocyte blood work.
Click to expand...

keep me in the loop low lymphocyte bro!
 
pattismith

pattismith

Senior Member
Messages
3,905
Some patients with Polymyalgia Rheumatica or Giant Cell Arteritis have low CD8.
Both of these inflammatory diseases respond to corticosteroid drugs.

In this study, They found that

Compared with controls, patients with active disease had a significantly lower percentage of CD8 cells and significantly increased sIL-2R levels.

Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C reactive protein, and sIL-2R values were significantly less after six months of steroid treatment compared with before treatment.

The percentage of CD8 cells remained significantly lower at six months and the end of follow up compared with controls, while sIL-2R levels remained significantly greater.

Patients in whom the percentage of CD8 cells at six months was lower than one SD of the mean of normal controls (26%) had a significantly longer duration of corticosteroid treatment, a greater cumulative dose of prednisone and more relapses or recurrences compared with patients in whom the percentage was in the normal range.

The duration of treatment and the cumulative dose of prednisone were not influenced by the percentage of CD8 cells before treatment therapy or by the levels of sIL-2R after six months of treatment.

CONCLUSIONS--

A reduced percentage of CD8 cells after six months of treatment may be a useful outcome parameter which would identify a group of PMR/GCA patients likely to experience more severe disease, defined as longer duration of corticosteroid treatment, higher cumulative dose of prednisone, and relapse or recurrence of disease.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.