Talk:Lymphocyte

NK cells

"The NK cells are a part of the cell-mediated immunity. They can attack the host's cells that express a foreign peptide on their MHC class I surface protein"

all nucleated cells express MHC class I - this make is sounds like they attack them if there is an interaction. i believe these cells go around checking all the mhc class I to see what is foreign and what is native. it then kills the cells that present foreign protein bits on mhc I.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.125.47.125 (talk • contribs) 16:04, 1 October 2006

Changed header 'NK cells' to 'Natural Killer Cells' as using such a simple abbreviation in a header is kinda lazy. Apologies for my rectitude. Jaffro (talk) 11:01, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

I'd put this in a new section but I don't know how to do that sorry! The table with the ratios of cells is very misleading - the reference is to a paper that is based upon infants. in the first couple of years of life the ratios of cells in the immune system dramatically changes and so these ratios are incorrect for adults. Im a medical student at oxford and our lecturer quoted NKs as 10% of peripheral blood lymphocytes with B cells making up about a third less than this. I'm not sure where this information came from (we had no reference for that) so not sure if it is correct, but the numbers in this article certainly aren't correct for adults — Preceding unsigned comment added by Emma.pope4 (talk • contribs) 11:04, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Question

my son had blood work done with an elevated lymph differential what does this mean —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.163.100.9 (talk • contribs) 22:17, 5 October 2004

Please direct future questions to the Reference Desk.

It depends primarily on the initial symptoms and the age of the patient. In young people, it is often a sign of viral infection, while in the elderly it has other potential causes. JFW | T@lk 08:20, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I got medical records sent back to me and it says under result, 3.6 and under flag, A. What does that mean? Can you add stuff like that to the main page so people can read their medical charts?—Preceding unsigned comment added by 154.20.216.21 (talk • contribs) 22:10, 20 April 2007

I kindly direct you to our Medical disclaimer, Cheers--DO11.10 02:25, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Nucleus Size

" the coarse, dense nucleus of a lymphocyte is approximately the same size as a red blood cell (about 7 micrometres in diameter)."

Do you mean immature red blood cells because to my knowledge mature red blood cells eject their nuclei to be able to hold and deliver more oxygen to the body.

To back up my statement here is a composite quote from the wikipedia page on Red blood cells:

"Red blood cells are also known as RBCs or erythrocytes"

"Erythrocytes in mammals are anucleate when mature, meaning that they lose their cell nucleus and thus their DNA."

Diploid 03:00, Feb 18, 2005 (UTC)

No, the lymphocyte consists almost completely of its nucleus. It is about the same size as a mature red cell, and the size of red cells is actually compared to that of lymphocytes to identify micro- and macrocytosis (small or large red blood cells). JFW | T@lk 01:22, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Errors ID'd by Nature, to correct

The results of what exactly Nature suggested should be corrected is out... italicize each bullet point once you make the correction. -- user:zanimum

• Lymphocytes are larger than red blood cells and plasma cells have a large cytoplasm to nucleus ratio, not vice versa.

The first part seems to be a misreading on the part of the reviewer: the article has always said that the nucleus of a lymphocyte is similar in size to an RBC (which it is: "A useful internal reference for determining RBC size is to evaluate the nucleus of a small, normal lymphocyte in comparison to the erythrocytes. ... Normal erythrocytes should be about the same size as the nucleus in a small lymphocyte.") [1]. The second part seems to have been moved to plasma cell, where I've corrected it. - Nunh-huh 01:21, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

• The function of T cells is omitted and there is no mention of cytokine secretion.

Confounding!

From my memory of what I have read, the NK cells do not really detect the presence of foreign antigens on the host cells, but select thier targets by making out differences in level of elaboration of the MHC (class I, I mean, because here we are discussing self-altered cells) molecules (irrespective of whether they are tagged by the antigens or not). --KC Panchal 22:33, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Lymphocytes and disease section needs expanding

I added a "section needs expanding" banner to the Lymphocytes and disease section in the article because there are many disorders that can cause a low count. The article as written makes it seem the HIV virus is the primary cause. See this search on Google for low lymphocytes. 5Q5 (talk) 22:23, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Dendritic and null lymphocytes

In creating a class about the immune system, I came across dendritic cells on the web that are not mentioned in any of my textbooks. I am wondering if these should be mentioned in this article and linked to the wiki article [2]?

I also came across null lymphocytes but could find no good summary of what they are. Perhaps these can be included in this article as well?

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Catha2008 (talk • contribs) 19:21, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Link is missing

Information and a link to cell adhesion (VCAM-1) is missing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.99.197.15 (talk)

Revisions

Part of the introduction to the article previously stated "lymphocytes can be divided into large granular lymphocytes and small lymphocytes." Lymphocytes are agranular, not granular. I edited the introduction very slightly to clarify that lymphocytes are agranular. Was I correcting a typo or is there a reason that some lymphocytes should be referred to as granular? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Soccrazy (talk • contribs) 18:49, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Not all lymphocytes are agranular. Natural killer cells are definitely granular and are lymphocytes. I fixed this in the lead.The Haz _talk 01:13, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

I apologize for not giving a better explanation. I should add that some older definitions will list lymphocytes as nongranular or agranular because they are not including natural killer cells. I was taught (and have read) that this was simply because for a time after their discovery they were deemed to be just artifacts, then realized to be actual components of the immune system once again. Therefore, it's completely understandable why anyone would be unsure. To be exact, there are three groupings of lymphocytes: T-cells, B-cells, and null, the latter including natural killer cells. However, it should be noted that a Wikipedia article should not state that lymphocytes are agranular and then only a part of the way down speak of "granular lymphocytes." The Haz _talk 01:42, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Unhelpful detail in introduction section

In the introductory sentence of the "T cells and B cells" section there is the comment: (the lymphocytes B was discovered by Girolamo Fabrici D'acquapendente in birds and where they develop B cells).

This is not well written, and confusing in that sentence. It's also not really relevant, as he had nothing to do with B or T cells themselves. He researched a related organ in birds (hundreds of years ago). I am inclined to delete it, but don't feel confident enough to do it myself. Nialljc (talk) 16:19, 30 September 2011 (UTC)

NKT cells

NKT cells are non mentioned in the article. Aren't they a type of lymphocyte? They are not the same as NK cells.--Miguelferig (talk) 17:44, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Agranulocyte vs granulocytes

In the intro section, all three types of cells are described as agranulocytes, yet on the page for NK cells (and in every textbook i've seen) NK cells are described as granulocytes. Should be corrected.192.108.242.82 (talk) 18:49, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Immunity

Would a blood transfusion from younger cleaner blood be helpful to my immune system? Lemonking (talk) 05:59, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

This article should rank very high on quality scale

This is probably the best technical article I have ever read on Wikipedia. It explains things clearly for a lay reader like myself. Oftentimes, I find that technical articles immediately start using jargon--even in the introduction--and the lay reader is lost right from the get-go.

I hope this article gets a very high score for readability and clarity, if and when it is rated on the quality scale.