Talk:Lymphocyte

"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.

Question

my son had blood work done with an elevated lymph differentialwhat does this mean

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)

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.