To investigate the immunological function of the tonsils and the
possible effects of their removal on the cellular immunity in children, we
studied selected parameters of the cellular immune system, unprimed
naive T-cell (CD45 RAP), helper 1-cell (CD4) and cytotoxic 1-cell (CDs)
of forty children with recurrent attacks of acute follicular tonsillitis aged
6 — 12 years (mean ± SD 9.2 ± 1.9 years) before and one week and two
months after tonsillectomy, in comparison to ten age-matched healthy non
tonsillectomized children (mean ± SD 9.0 ± 2.0 years). Cats is a tyrosine
phosphatase expressed on lymphocytes and acts as a positive regulator
that is required for antigen stimulation and proliferation of T and B-cells.
There was significant increase of CD4 percentage and CD45 RA+
percent before tonsillectomy when compared to the control group. While
one week after tonsillectomy, the lymphocytes sub-populations CD4 |
