الفهرس 
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Abstract
β-Thalassemia is a hereditary anemia characterized by reduced or absent β-globin chain synthesis. In β-thalassemia patients, infections are one of the main reasons of mortality and morbidity. Increased susceptibility to infectious diseases indicates the existence of immune defects in β-thalassemia patients. NK cell is an important part of the adaptive and innate immune system. Factors that affect NK cell activity can also affect immune responses against cancer and infectious diseases. Aim of the study is to estimate the NK cells count in pediatric Egyptian patients with β-thalassemia and assess its role in occurrence of infection. The present study was conducted in Mansoura University Children’s Hospital between march 2017 and October 2017. The subjects in this study were 100 pediatric patients with β-thalassemia aged from 1 year to 17 years divided into two groups, TDT and NTDT. Results of the current study were: • β-Thalassemia cases with recurrent infections showed significantly lower NK expression when compared to β-thalassemia cases with non-recurrent infections. • No significant correlations were found between NK versus, hemoglobin, ferritin, iron and HbF.• Only older age, splenectomy and lower NK expression were considered significant predictors of recurrant infection within β-thalassemia patients .