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Objective:To analyze clinical features of coronavirus disease 2019 in patients with autoimmune blistering diseases (AIBDs), and to explore risk factors for the development of severe coronavirus disease 2019 in patients with AIBDs.Methods:Clinical data were collected from patients with AIBDs who were hospitalized in Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University from August 2021 to December 2022, and were retrospectively analyzed. Independent sample t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, or chi-square test (Fisher′s exact test) were used to analyze factors associated with severe coronavirus disease 2019 in AIBD patients. Results:A total of 30 patients with AIBDs accompanied by coronavirus disease 2019 were included, they were aged 62.90 ± 15.72 years, and included 16 males and 14 females; pemphigus vulgaris (12 cases, 40.00%) and bullous pemphigoid (13 cases, 43.33%) predominated in the disease spectrum of AIBDs in these patients. The common clinical manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 were cough (25 cases, 83.33%), fatigue (22 cases, 73.33%), and fever (15 cases, 50.00%) ; most patients had mild clinical symptoms, while 7 (23.33%) developed into severe coronavirus disease 2019, including 2 out of 14 aged 30 - 59 years and 5 out of 16 elderly patients aged ≥ 60 years, and 2 out of the 5 elderly patients finally died. According to the clinical classification criteria of coronavirus disease 2019, the 30 patients were divided into the mild-to-moderate group (23 cases) and severe group (7 cases) ; the duration of AIBDs was significantly shorter in the severe group (10.71 ± 10.72 months) than in the mild-to-moderate group (27.61 ± 19.67 months, t = 2.16, P = 0.040) ; the remission rate of AIBDs was significantly higher in the mild-to-moderate group (21/23) than in the severe group (4/7, χ2 = 4.36, P = 0.037) ; the average daily dosage of methylprednisolone during the last month was significantly lower in the mild-to-moderate group ( M[ Q1, Q3]: 8 [4, 14] mg) than in the severe group (24 [12, 47] mg, U = 133.50, P = 0.007), and the proportion of patients treated with methylprednisolone at an average dosage of > 8 mg was significantly higher in the severe group (6/7) than in the mild-to-moderate group (8/23, χ2 = 5.59, P = 0.031) . Conclusions:Among the patients with AIBDs accompanied by coronavirus disease 2019, the incidence and mortality of severe coronavirus disease 2019 were higher in elderly patients than in young patients. The short course and no-remission of AIBDs, and the average daily dosage of methylprednisolone being>8 mg/d during the last month were risk factors for the development of severe coronavirus disease 2019 in the patients with AIBDs.
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Objective To evaluate the changes of adenosine metabolism pathway related molecules and their contribution to inflammatory injury in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC).Methods The consecutive samples of 49 subjects with PBC from The First People's Hospital of Taicang and The Second People's Hospital of Changshu were recruited from October 2016 to October 2017,and 36 healthy controls were involved in this study.The expression of CD39 and CD73 on CD4+T cells and Foxp3 + regulatory T cells were assayed by flow cytometry and the concentration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in serum was analyzed by ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS).The correlations between Tregs,ATP and liver function were analyzed,i.e.,alanine aminotransferase (ALT),aspartate aminotransferase (AST),gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT),alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Mayo scores.Results In the patients with PBC,low proportions of CD4+CD39+T cells were noted compared with healthy controls [(5.28 ± 1.92) ％ vs (11.0l ± 3.19) ％,t =10.25,P ＜ 0.01].The patients with PBC also had significantly low proportion of CD4+CD25 + Foxp3+ CD39+ T cells compared with healthy controls [(23.75 ± 9.48) ％ vs (54.68 ± 5.18) ％,t =13.79,P ＜0.01].No significant difference of the proportion of CD4+CD73+T or CD4+CD25+ Foxp3+CD39+T cells was found between PBC and control groups (t values were 2.235 and 1.083,P ＞ 0.05).The level of serum ATP was higher in the patients with PBC than that of healthy controls [(200.28 ± 79.41) μg/L vs (89.20 ± 33.76) μg/L,t =8.367,P ＜ 0.01].A significant correlation was demonstrated between the proportion of CD39 + Treg in total Treg cells and the levels of ATP (r =-0.413,P =0.003),GGT (r=-0.378,P=0.007) and Mayo score (r=-0.382,P=0.007).Conclusion The low proportion of CD39+ Treg cells may contribute to the down-regulation of ATP hydrolysis in the patients with PBC.No significant change of CD73 + Treg cells was found in PBC patients.