The detection of sLFA-3 in plasma of patients with hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is an acute viral disease characterized by endothelial dysfunction. The cellular immune response, especially the virus-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes, is known to attack vascular endothelial cells (VEC) and to contribute to the diffuse damage and penetrability increasing of VEC. Lymphocyte function associated antigen 3 (LFA-3) is expressed on T lymphocytes and VEC, which is contributed to the activation of T lymphocytes. The expression of LFA-3 on the activated T lymphocytes and VEC is highly increased, which can exfoliate into plasma to increase the level of soluble LFA-3 (sLFA-3) in plasma. So the change of sLFA-3 levels is correlated with the activation of T lymphocytes. In this study we detected the levels of sLFA-3 in plasma of patients with HFRS. We examined the levels of sLFA-3 in plasma samples collected from 53 HFRS patients by double antibody sandwich ELISA. We found variable, but persistently elevated levels of sLFA-3 throughout the various phases and types of the HFRS disease, which suggest that sLFA-3 levels have correlation with disease stages. Moreover, elevated sLFA-3 levels are closely correlated to the severity of HFRS and the degree of kidney damage.