The populations of CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ T regulatory cells, Foxp3 mRNA expression related to disease activity of svstemic Iupus ervthematosus / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the ratios of peripheral blood CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ regulatory T cells of systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) patients,and explore its association with disease activity and nephropathy.MethodsPBMC lymphocytes in 42 patients with SLE and PBMC in 40 normal healthy donors were evaluated for the proportion of Treg cells,as a percentage of the total CD4+ cells,by flow cytometric analysis.Levels of mRNA for Foxp3 were measured with a real-time quantitative PCR.The proportion of Treg cells and its association with SLEDAI,nephropathy,serum anti-dsDNA antibody,and C3 levels were analyzed.Statistical analysis was conducted with t-test and Spearman's correlation analysis.ResultsPatients with active disease had statistically significantly lower levels of CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ Treg than normal controls [(4±3)％ vs (7±4)％,P＜0.05],while no significant difference could be found between patients with nonactive disease and normal controls(P＞0.05).The percentage of peripheral blood CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ Treg/CD4+ in patients with active disease was significantly lower when compared to patients with non-active disease [(9±6)％ vs (10±6)％,P＜0.05],and it was related to the disease activity.SLE patients with nephropathy had significantly lower levels of CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ Treg and CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ Treg/CD4+ than patients without nephropathy(P＜0.05).Foxp3 mRNA levels were lower in PBMC from active disease patients than those in non-active disease.In addition,there was a negative correlation between the populations of CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ and SLEDAI(r=-0.5892,P＜0.05).There was a negative correlation between the percentage of CD4+CD25highFoxp3+/CD4+ and SLEDAI (r=-0.4962,P＜0.05),while there was a positive correlation between the percentage of CD4+CD25highFoxp3+/CD4+ and C3(r=0.3867,P＜0.05).There was a positive correlation between the populations of CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ and Foxp3 mRNA(r=0.6142,P＜0.01 ).ConclusionThese suggest that the decrease of CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ Treg and Foxp3 mRNA expression may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of SLE.