Mike- A few years ago we saw a patient run as a "control" who had an increased percentage of CD4+CD8+cells (about 30%). This was a hospitalized patient with myasthenia gravis. At the time I found a report in the neurology literature describing this observation in many such patients. Interesting, in view of the association of thymic pathology with myasthenia. Anyway, I did not pursue the literature search further to include other autoimmune diseases, but should have. Having tested many hospitalized patients, I believe that a high percentage of double positives in peripheral blood samples is a rare event. Artifacts should be ruled out. Bruce MacPherson
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