Lymphocyte subpopulations in solvent-exposed workers.

To estimate the cellular immune response of workers highly exposed to mixtures of organic solvents, subpopulations of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) were analyzed. For this, the PBLs of nine floorers (aged 25–58 years, exposure time 8–35 years) were subsequently labelled with monoclonal antibodies OKT 4, OKT 8, OKT 11, anti-Leu 7 and anti-Leu 12. Analysis was made by a FACS IV cell sorter (Becton-Dickinson, USA). The control group consisted of matched pairs of healthy donors. In the exposed group we found a decrease in the OKT 11 (all) T cell fraction, a decrease in the OKT 4 helper cells, an increase in the anti-Leu 7 positive cells, mostly natural killer cells, an important increase …