ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the expression of HLA-G in lymphocytes,CD3+ T cells,and CD14+ monocytes from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their associations with disease activity,disease duration,medication used and clinical parameters.Methods We studied 68 RA patients as well as 63 healthy controls.HLA-G expression was analyzed by flow cytometry in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).Mann Whitney U tests and Spearman rank correlation coefficient test were used for statistical analysis.Results We found that lymphocytes as well as CD3+ T cells,and CD14+ monocytes in RA patients showed a diminished expression of HLA-G compared with healthy controls [1.98％(1.17％-3.66％) vs 2.93％ (1.70％-5.40％),U=1624.5,P＜0.05; 1.35％(0.57％-2.79％) vs 2.16％(1.15％-4.45％),U=1387,P=0.000; 22.65％ (10.59％-36.81％) vs 32.76％ (20.73％-44.62％),U=1526,P＜0.01].Spearman analysis showed that the levels of HLA-G+ lymphocytes as well as CD3+ HLA-G+ T cells was negatively associated with DAS28 score(r=-0.288,P=0.017; r=-0.373,P=0.001),but no significant correlation was detected between the levels of CD14+HLA-G+monocytes and DAS 28 score (P＞0.05).In addition,the levels of expression of HLA-G was not correlated to disease duration,medication used,ESR,CRP,RF,anti-CCP and ANA (P＞0.05).Conclusion Decreased expression of HLA-G are detected in lymphocytes,CD3+ T cells,and CD14+ monocytes from pa-tients with RA,and the abnormality of HLA-G may play an important role in the development of RA.