Characterization of Immune Cells From the Lungs of Patients With Chronic Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria or Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection

Alan R Schenkel; John D Mitchell; Carlyne D Cool; Xiyuan Bai; Steve Groshong; Tilman Koelsch; Deepshikha Verma; Diane Ordway; Edward D Chan

doi:10.4110/in.2022.22.e27

Characterization of Immune Cells From the Lungs of Patients With Chronic Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria or Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection

Immune Netw. 2022 Apr 11;22(3):e27. doi: 10.4110/in.2022.22.e27. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

Alan R Schenkel¹, John D Mitchell², Carlyne D Cool^{3

4}, Xiyuan Bai^{5

6}, Steve Groshong^{3

4}, Tilman Koelsch⁷, Deepshikha Verma¹, Diane Ordway¹, Edward D Chan^{5

6

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, & Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
² Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
³ Department of Pathology, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA.
⁴ Department of Pathology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
⁵ Department of Academic Affairs, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA.
⁶ Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
⁷ Department of Radiology, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA.
⁸ Department of Medicine, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA.
⁹ Pulmonary Section, Rocky Mountain Regional Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.

Abstract

Little is known of the lung cellular immunophenotypes in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial lung disease (NTM-LD). Flow-cytometric analyses for the major myeloid and lymphoid cell subsets were performed in less- and more-diseased areas of surgically resected lungs from six patients with NTM-LD and two with Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung disease (PsA-LD). Lymphocytes, comprised mainly of NK cells, CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells, and B cells, accounted for ~60% of all leukocytes, with greater prevalence of T and B cells in more-diseased areas. In contrast, fewer neutrophils were found with decreased number in more-diseased areas. Compared to NTM-LD, lung tissues from patients with PsA-LD demonstrated relatively lower numbers of T and B lymphocytes but similar numbers of NK cells. While this study demonstrated a large influx of lymphocytes into the lungs of patients with chronic NTM-LD, further analyses of their phenotypes are necessary to determine the significance of these findings.

Keywords: Leukocytes; Lung; Lymphocytes; Non-tuberculous mycobacteria; Pseudomonas aeruginosa.