Full Papers
Absolute reduction of peripheral regulatory T cell in patients with relapsing polychondritis
F.-Y. Hu1, J. Wang2, S.-X. Zhang3, R. Su4, N. Yan5, C. Gao6, X.-F. Li7, C.-H. Wang8
- Department of Rheumatology, the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
- Department of Rheumatology, the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
- Department of Rheumatology, the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
- Department of Rheumatology, the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
- Department of Rheumatology, the Second Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Rheumatology, the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
- Department of Rheumatology, the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. snwch@sina.com
CER13126
2021 Vol.39, N°3
PI 0487, PF 0493
Full Papers
PMID: 32573423 [PubMed]
Received: 20/01/2020
Accepted : 05/05/2020
In Press: 23/06/2020
Published: 21/05/2021
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
Although relapsing polychondritis (RP) is considered as an immune-mediated systemic disease, the levels of peripheral lymphocyte subpopulations are rarely studied in patients with RP. In this study, we focused on changes of peripheral CD4+T cell subsets in patients with RP.
METHODS:
Absolute numbers and percentages of CD4+T cell subsets including helper T(Th)1, Th2, Th17 cells and regulatory T (Treg) cells in peripheral blood (PB) from 19 RP patients, healthy controls and RA patients respectively were assessed by flow cytometry combined a microbead-based single-platform method. We compared the CD4+T cell levels in all RP patients and healthy controls. In addition, we analysed the difference of the absolute number and percentage of Treg cells between RP and RA patients.
RESULTS:
Compared with healthy controls, all RP patients had significantly both lower absolute number and proportion of Treg cells (absolute number, 45.10/μl vs. 22.48/μl, p<0.001; proportion, 5.19% vs. 3.78%, p<0.001) no matter whether they had received treatment or not. Similarly, the absolute number of Th2 cells in all RP patients was decreased (10.19/μl vs. 7.44/μl, p=0.030). However, there were no significant differences in percentages and absolute numbers of Th1 and Th17 cells between RP patients and healthy controls. The above results led to increased ratios of Th1/Treg (3.68 vs. 2.06, p=0.020), Th2/Treg (0.29 vs. 0.21, p=0.037) and Th17/Treg (0.25 vs. 0.14, p<0.001) in RP patients, and untreated RP patients were mainly characterised by the imbalance of Th17/Treg (0.25 vs. 0.14, p<0.01). There was no significant difference in Treg cells between RP and RA patients (p>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS:
Our data suggest that the reduction of Treg cells and its imbalance with Th cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of RP.
