Prognosis of nonspecific interstitial pneumonia correlates with perivascular CD4+ T lymphocyte infiltration of the lung

BACKGROUND: Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) is characterized by interstitial infiltration of T lymphocytes, and subpopulations of these cells may be associated with the progression of fibrosis. However, few studies evaluate the correlation of prognosis with this characteristic. Therefore, we performed morphological and quantitative analyses of T lymphocytes in patients with NSIP and evaluated the relationship between T lymphocytes and prognosis. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the presence of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes in 55 biopsies of patients with NSIP to determine the numbers of these T cell subpopulations in lymphoid follicles as well as in perivascular, interstitial, and peribronchial anatomical compartments. The relationship between CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocyte populations and prognosis was analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age of 55 patients was 48.9 ± 10.5 years, and 36 (65 %) of patients were women. All patients were followed for a mean duration of 46 ± 25 months. Thirteen (23.6 %) patients died during follow-up. Perivascular CD4+ lymphocyte infiltration (HR, 0.939; 95 % CI, 0.883–0.999; p = 0.048) was an independent risk factor for survival. Perivascular infiltrates of CD4+ T lymphocytes correlated with survival time (r = 0.270, p = 0.046). Patients with improved forced vital capacity survived longer and had higher numbers of CD4+ T lymphocytes that infiltrated perivascular tissue. The densities of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes infiltrating other tissues were not significantly associated with survival time. CONCLUSIONS: Perivascular infiltration of CD4+ T lymphocytes in patients with NSIP correlated with prognosis. The underlying mechanisms are unknown and require further studies. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12890-015-0122-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.