Lymphopenia

Hereditary lymphopenia can be accompanied by hereditary immunodeficiency disease (see table 135-4 and section 147), which leads to ineffective hematopoiesis of the lymphatic system due to abnormal quality and quantity of stem cells. Other causes, such as Wiskott Aldrich syndrome, can be caused by accelerated destruction of T cells. Patients with adenosine deaminase deficiency and purine nucleotide phosphorylase deficiency develop by the same mechanism. Acquired lymphopenia is a syndrome associated with peripheral blood lymphocyte loss that is not secondary to genetic diseases. AIDS is the most common infectious disease with lymphopenia, which is caused by the destruction of CD4 T cells infected with HIV. In some cases of acute viremia, lymphocytes may be accelerated by virus activation, or may be trapped in the spleen or lymph nodes or migrate to the respiratory tract.