Plasma cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of a patient with eosinophilic pneumonia. Morphologic proof of local production of antibodies |
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| Authors: | E Yamaguchi S Saito N Okazaki S Abe Y Kawakami |
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| Affiliation: | First Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. |
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| Abstract: | We describe a case of eosinophilic pneumonia in which plasma cells appeared in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). A 49-year-old man presented with wheezing, lung infiltrates, peripheral eosinophilia, and extremely high IgE levels in serum and BALF. A differential count of BALF revealed 56.6 percent lymphocytes and 1.3 percent plasma cells. The appearance of plasma cells suggests local maturation of B cells and represents a morphologic proof of local production of immunoglobulins. The increased number of lymphocytes suggests their role in B cell differentiation via the lymphokine network. |
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