Thymoma T helper type 17 cells and related cytokines in myasthenia gravis / 中华内科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the immunoregulatory role of Th17 cell and the related cytokines in myasthenia gravis.Methods Totally 51 myasthenia gravis (MG) patients were divided into MG with thymomas ( TM group) and the MG with normal thymus ( NT group),as well as 22 healthy subjects as controls.Th17 cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells were measured by flow cytometry.Th17 related cytokines were detected by ELISA and real-time quantitative-PCR.Results The quantity of Th17 cells in MG patients with thymomas (1.53 ± 0.59 )％ were significantly increased compared with that of healthy control (0.94％±0.32％,P ＜ 0.05 ).There was no significant difference in the number of Th17 cells between healthy controls and NT group.The expression levels of IL-17 mRNA ( 23.7 ± 4.5 ) were upregulated significantly versus those in healthy controls (13.4 ± 3.2,P ＜0.01 ).The levels of mRNA expression of IL-1 β,IL-6 and IL-23 were up-regulated significantly in TM group.The mean concentration of IL-17 was up-regulated significantly in TM group (30.4 ±7.3) ng/L versus healthy controls [ ( 19.2 ±4.9)ng/L,P ＜ 0.05].Serum levels of IL-23 and IL-1β were always increased in TM group versus healthy controls.Conclusion The elevated levels of IL-17 and other Th17 related cytokines in thymomas may aggravate the autoimmunity disorder.