% CD8+CD57+ Lymphs

Optimal Result: 0 - 11.3 %.

Why use the CD57 test?

The CD57 test is offered in some clinical laboratories and is being used by some health practitioners to evaluate and follow patients diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease.

What is Lyme disease?

Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne illness in the United States, is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by the bite of the Ixodes sp. tick (the deer tick).

The disease usually begins with erythema migrans, an expanding skin lesion at the site of the tick bite. Within several days or weeks, there is hematogenous dissemination of the spirochetes, and patients may present with dermatologic, neurological, cardiac, and rheumatologic involvement.

What is chronic lyme disease?

Chronic Lyme disease is a controversial term applied to a broad spectrum of patients, including individuals with Lyme disease and those with post-Lyme disease syndrome (PLDS), as well as patients with no evidence of current or past Borrelia burgdorferi infection. PLDS is defined as the persistence or relapse of nonspecific symptoms (such as fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and cognitive complaints) in patients who have had Lyme disease and have received an adequate course of antibiotic therapy.

It has been reported that people with “chronic Lyme disease” have a decreased number of natural killer cells (NK cells), as defined by the CD57 marker.

Although acute infections can be treated with antibiotics, failure to treat may result in a chronic, debilitating illness characterized by musculoskeletal and neurologic symptoms. Chronic Lyme disease may be difficult to treat, but also to diagnose

What are white blood cells?

White blood cells (=leukocytes) help the body to fight infections and other diseases.

The human immune system consists of several different types of white blood cells with one category being called Lymphocytes.

Lymphocytes attack antigens (foreign proteins).

Lymphocytes consists of 3 subcategories of white blood cells known as B-Cells, T-Cells, and Natural Killer Cells.

  • B-cells – responsible for antibody production
  • T-cells – responsible for killing foreign invaders.
  • natural killer (NK) cells – responsible for killing foreign invaders.

Natural killer cells versus T-cells:

Natural killer cells are the first line of defense against foreign pathogens and they belong to the innate immune system. They are not specific in their immune response and recognize a wide variety of pathogens.

T-cells, on the other side, belong to the adaptive immune system. They are much more focused and highly specialized.

What are CD markers?

CD stands for cluster designation. CD is a glycoprotein molecule on the cell surface that acts as an identifying marker. Each different marker (or CD) on a cell is named with a number, which signifies the order in which the CD was discovered. Cells that have a certain kind of CD present on their surface are denoted as “+” for that CD type (e.g., a cell with CD57 markers on its surface is “CD57+”.

What are CD57 cells?

  • CD57 is a natural killer cell. A below-normal count of CD57+ cells has been associated with chronic Lyme disease. No one knows for sure why CD57+ NK cells are low in Lyme disease patients, but it is important to note that many disease states that are often confused with chronic Lyme (such as MS, systemic lupus, rheumatoid arthritis) are not
    associated with low CD57+ counts.
  • Borrelia are believed to be capable of reducing the total amount of CD57 natural killer cells in the human body.
  • It is generally believed that the lower the amount of CD57 natural killer cells in the body, the more chronic or progressive Lyme disease is, and the higher the amount, the closer a person is to remission.

What are CD8 cells?

The CD8 cells are generally referred to as T-cells, not to be confused with natural killer cells.

Controversy around using this test:

  • The utility of this test is controversial. Marques et. al. (2009 Clin. Vaccine Immunol. 16:1249-50) reported that there was no difference between the CD57 NK cell counts among patients with Lyme disease and normal controls.
  • There have been instances where high amounts of CD57 natural killers cells have been found in those with chronic Lyme disease, and low amounts of CD57 natural killer cells have been found in those who were believed to be in remission.

Possible treatment options:

There are various stages of Lyme infection, and treatments differ according to the stage of infection. It’s important to be aware of the various treatment options so that you can help your doctor determine what’s right for you. Treatment options include one or multiple rounds of antibiotics (oral, intravenous, intramuscular, etc). When a patient is diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease, doctors work to develop an extended treatment plan. Treating Chronic Lyme can last months, years or even longer. Decisions about the treatment of the patient with chronic Lyme disease need to be individually shaped by the clinician’s experience, the patient’s clinical profile and history of antibiotic responsiveness, and the emerging medical literature.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2725528/

https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/61/7/1084/289719

https://lymescience.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CD57-unavailable.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0399077X18306760

https://cvi.asm.org/content/16/11/1704

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4196523/

https://canlyme.com/just-diagnosed/treatment/chronic-lyme-disease/

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2014/635784/

Disclaimer:

The information on healthmatters.io is NOT intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice.

Reference Range(s):

CD57+/CD3- of % Lymphs 1-10 % Lymphocytes
CD57+/CD3- of % WBC

1-4 % WBC

CD57+/CD3- Cells/uL

20-258 Cells/uL

CD57+/CD3-/CD8- of % Lymphs 1-5 % Lymphocytes
CD57+/CD3-/CD8- of % WBC 1-3 % WBC
CD57+/CD3-/CD8- Cells/uL 20-114 Cells/uL
CD57+/CD8- of % Lymphs 1-15 % Lymphocytes
CD57+/CD8- of % WBC 1-4 % WBC
CD57+/CD8-Cells/uL 20-248 Cells/uL

What does it mean if your % CD8+CD57+ Lymphs result is too low?

The number of CD57 cells is decreased in chronic Lyme disease patients, particularly those with pronounced neurologic symptoms. Patients with low CD57 have significantly more co-infections and persistent immunologic defects than patients with higher counts. In patients that respond to antibiotic therapy, the number will come back to normal following treatment, but in patients with persistent Lyme disease, CD57 levels remain low.

Possible treatment options:

There are various stages of Lyme infection, and treatments differ according to the stage of infection. It’s important to be aware of the various treatment options so that you can help your doctor determine what’s right for you. Treatment options include one or multiple rounds of antibiotics (oral, intravenous, intramuscular, etc). When a patient is diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease, doctors work to develop an extended treatment plan. Treating Chronic Lyme can last months, years or even longer. Decisions about the treatment of chronic Lyme disease need to be individually shaped by the clinician’s experience, the patient’s clinical profile and history of antibiotic responsiveness, and the emerging medical literature.

What does it mean if your % CD8+CD57+ Lymphs result is too high?

A high percentage of CD8+CD57+ lymphocytes in your blood may have several implications, often related to your immune system. These cells are a subset of CD8+ T lymphocytes and are associated with certain conditions:

→ Chronic Infections: Elevated CD8+CD57+ lymphocytes can be indicative of chronic infections, as these cells are often found in response to persistent viral or bacterial infections.

→ Immune Senescence: An increase in CD8+CD57+ cells may suggest immune senescence, a phenomenon where the immune system becomes less efficient with age. This could make you more susceptible to infections and diseases.

→ Autoimmune Disorders: In some cases, a high percentage of CD8+CD57+ lymphocytes may be associated with autoimmune disorders, where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues.

→ Immunological Monitoring: Medical professionals may use the CD8+CD57+ cell count as a marker to assess immune function, especially in cases of immunodeficiency or as part of immunological profiling.

→ Stress and Social Support: Research has also suggested a link between low perceived social support and elevated CD8+CD57+ cell levels, indicating a potential connection between psychosocial factors and immune function.

It's essential to interpret this result in the context of your overall health, medical history, and other diagnostic tests. If you have concerns about your CD8+CD57+ lymphocyte levels, it is advisable to consult a healthcare provider for a thorough evaluation and appropriate guidance.

10 000+ happy customers
100% satisfaction
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ customer support

Understand blood, stool, and urine medical results from all your laboratories.

Upload Your Personal Results

Upload Personal Results

For professional account plans go here

for professional account plans go here

Monthly plan

Annual plan

Own it for life

  • Subscription
  • Data entry service included

    Data entry service

    Our exclusive data entry service is a convenient way to get your results into your private dashboard. Simply attach an image or a file of your lab test results, and one of our qualified data entry team members will add the results for you. We support all sorts of files, whether PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is excellent whether you have a lot of reports to upload or are too busy to do the data entry yourself.

  • Instant interpretation
  • Use free data entry form

    Free data entry form

    We strive to make the data entry process easy for you. Whether by offering dozens of templates to choose from that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels or by giving you instant feedback on the entered values. Our data entry forms are an easy, fast, and convenient way to enter the reports yourself. There is no limit on how many lab reports you can upload.

  • 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • Nutrition recommendations
  • Cancel anytime

Complete

$15 /month

billed every month

  • monthly
  • $15 per report
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ Free data entry form
  • ✓ Unlimited data
  • ✓ $15 data entry service
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

Most popular

Data entry included

Advanced

$79 /year

$6.60/month billed annually

  • yearly
  • 5 reports free
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ We enter 5 reports for you
  • ✓ Yearly subscription
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

Data entry included

Unlimited

$250 /once

own it for life

  • pay once
  • 10 reports free
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ We enter 10 reports for you
  • ✓ No subscription
  • ✓ Dedicated support
  • ✓ Unlimited access

Are You a Health Professional?

Get started with our professional plan

Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.

Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place. Learn more

Pro Monthly Plus

for health professionals

  • ✓ Track multiple clients results
  • ✓ No setup fees
  • ✓ No hidden costs
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Includes data entry service
  • ✓ Personal training and support
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

$75 per month

Use promo code to save 10% off any plan.


We implement proven measures to keep your data safe.

At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.