Haemochromatosis as a window into the study of the immunological system: a novel correlation between CD8+ lymphocytes and iron overload.

In the present study we report a serial investigation of the numbers of the peripheral blood cells--erythrocytes, polymorphonuclear neutrophils, total lymphocytes, T-lymphocyte subpopulations (CD2, CD4, CD8), B lymphocytes and monocytes--in a group of 21 patients with haemochromatosis during the time of intensive phlebotomy treatment, i.e., from iron overload until the onset of iron deficiency. A remarkable individual stability of all blood cell populations studied was found in all patients. Patients differed in their relative proportions of CD4+ and CD8+. Each individual's CD4/CD8 ratio, as well as the absolute numbers, remained unaffected with time, confirming the existence of a strict homeostatic regulation of the relative numbers of the two major peripheral T lymphocytes. A significant positive correlation between CD4/CD8 ratios and the amount of iron mobilised by phlebotomy was found during this study. A novel correlation between the relative proportions of CD4+ and CD8+ cells and iron overload is confirmed by the follow-up of iron re-entry in the serum transferrin pool in the treated patients.