T‐lymphocyte subsets in patients with abnormal body weight: Longitudinal studies in anorexia nervosa and obesity

Obesity and immune cell counts in women

“…Our data demonstrated a relationship between morbid obesity and CD8 count, but not overweight and obesity when compared with normal weight. These results are consistent with findings from other studies [14,26]. It may be that fat has a more direct effect on CD4 count, total lymphocyte count, and WBC count than on CD8 count.…”

“…One small study [11] found reduced CD4 + and Metabolism Clinical and Experimental 56 (2007) 998 -1004 www.elsevier.com/locate/metabol CD8 + T-lymphocyte subsets in 34 obese subjects compared with 50 nonobese subjects, whereas another found elevations in CD4 + T lymphocytes and no change in CD8 + T lymphocytes in 116 obese women compared with 41 nonobese women [12]. Others have demonstrated an increase in CD4 + T cells and a decrease in CD8 + T cells in morbidly obese women compared with healthy, normalweight controls [13], whereas still others demonstrate no difference between either CD4 + or CD8 + T-cell counts in obese and normal-weight patients [14]. We investigate the longitudinal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and white blood cell (WBC) count, total lymphocyte count, and T-cell subsets including CD4 + and CD8 + cell counts and percents, as well as CD4/CD8 ratio, in a large, ethnically diverse cohort of women.…”

Oral-tolerance induction in diet-induced obese mice

“…It has been reported that cellular immunity is impaired in both genetically obese animals and obese human subjects (Fink et al, 1996;Nieman et al, 1999;Tanaka et al, 1993;Fernandes et al, 1978;Mandel and Mahmoud, 1978;Candra, 1981;Tanaka et al, 1998). However, to date, changes in the intestinal immune system caused by obesity have not been studied extensively.…”

“…It has been shown previously that obese humans and genetically obese animals have decreased numbers of immune cells in addition to impaired T-cell function and NK activity (Fink et al, 1996;Nieman et al, 1999;Tanaka et al, 1993;Fernandes et al, 1978;Mandel and Mahmoud, 1978;Candra, 1981;Tanaka et al, 1998). Changes in immune function as a result of obesity may be a major cause of the increased susceptibility to infection and several types of cancer seen in overweight individuals.…”

Cytokine production in patients with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and obesity

“…In contrast, patients with AN have been observed to be relatively protected from infection (Pomeroy, Mitchell, & Eckert, 1992;Bowers & Eckert, 1978). This is the case even though many abnormalities in the function of the immune system have been found in AN subjects including leukopenia (Kay & Stricker, 1983), low CD4+ counts (Pirke, Nerl, & Fichter, 1992), low CD8+ counts (Fink, Eckert, Mitchell, Crosby, & Pomeroy, 1996), and abnormal levels of many of the cytokines (Pomeroy et al, 1994;Polack et al, 1993;Schattner, Tepper, Steinbock, Hahn, & Schoenfeld, 1990;Bessler et al, 1993;Vaisman & Hahn, 1991). Given our previous observations that serum levels of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TGF-␤ (which can suppress immune stimulation) increase in low-weight individuals with AN and normalize with refeeding (Pomeroy et al, 1994), it is possible that cytokines may contribute to the immune abnormalities observed in these patient groups.…”