Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucla-cs!Wounded.Bird@f38.n135.z1.fidonet.org From: Wounded.Bird@f38.n135.z1.fidonet.org (Wounded Bird) Newsgroups: sci.med.aids Subject: Re: T4 test results Message-ID: <32534@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> Date: 2 Mar 90 14:11:30 GMT Sender: news@CS.UCLA.EDU Organization: FidoNet node 1:135/38 - C-Board, Miami FL Lines: 49 Approved: ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org (David Dodell) Copyright: Copyright 1990, Sci.med.aids. Non-profit reproduction permitted. Copyright: All other rights reserved. Archive-number: 1803 -> WB> "Living With Aids" by Tom O'Connor. I understand what a low -> WB> helper/suppressor ratio means but I don't have any idea >while i'm researching your results; tell me more about the above Helper T cells (T4) do not fight pathogens directly but instead direct the immune system's troops. A helper T cell primed by a macrophage produces substances that attracts more helpers and other kinds of T cells to the site of infection and causes them to multiply. Meanwhile the original helper T cell keeps on attracting new macrophages. These ingest more pathogens and produce more substances that attract still more macrophages and T cells, an so on in a chain reaction........ Once macrophages and helper and killer T cells ward off an invader, the large amount of regulatory substances that these cells produced in the effort trigger into action another kind of lymphocyte, the supressor T cell (T8). Supressor T cells deactivate the army of primed immune cells, thus preventing them from turning against the healthy cells of the body. Normally, there should be at least 2 helper T cells for every supressor. (National Health Labs indicates a normal range of between 1.35 - 2.76). The proportion is reversed in people with AIDS or ARC. Note that mine was last .2 to 1. As HIV infection progresses, the increasing infected helper T cells most likely keep on producing substances that regulate the functions of other immune cells. The lock-and-key mechanisms of these infected cells are damaged, however, preventing the cell contact for effective immune regulation. Yet the large amount of regulatory chemicals in the blood tell the supressor (T8)it's time to quiet things down. The infected helper T cells, however, cannot be calmed down. Like blind, deaf, and numb individuals screaming for help, they cannot tell that the suppressors have come to their aid. They will keep screaming until they die, and the number of suppressors will keep on growing until they turn off other healthy and uninfected helper T cells. Immunity will deteriorate..... Helper T cells also initiate the production of antibodies by the B lymphocytes, activating them through lock-and-key mechanisms and stimulatory substances.............In AIDS, however, the antibody production is out of sync. B cells produce either too few necessary antibodies or too many unnecessary ones. Some of the antibodies produced in abnormally high quantities may be directed against hepler T cells to levels observed in full-blown AIDS. The above was freely extracted from "Living with Aids" by Tom O'Connor - Corwin Publishers, San Francisco without permission - so shoot me . -- Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!135!38!Wounded.Bird Internet: Wounded.Bird@f38.n135.z1.fidonet.org