Expression of CD2 and activation markers on blood T-helper cell subsets in patients with transfusional iron overload

. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between different measures of iron status, and the expression of CD2, and the activation markers CD25, CD71, CD45RO, HLADR CD38 within the Th‐cell subset in patients with progressive transfusional iron overload. We estimated the expression of the activation surface markers on the Th cells of peripheral blood by flow cytometry from 22 multiply transfused patients. The number of CD2 binding sites (BS) on Th cells was significantly higher in the patients (82 917 ± 30 801) than in age‐matched normal controls (41 145 ± 6989, P