ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the expression levels of DNA methyltransferases 1, 3A and 3B in CD4+ T cells of MRL/lpr mice, and explore their relationship with the expression levels of methylation-sensitive genes (ITGAL, CD70). Methods CD4+ T ceils were isolated from spleens of 16-week-old MRL/lpr and BALB/c control mice by anti-CIM antibody labeled magnetic beads. Transcription levels of DNA methyhransferases 1, 3A and 3B and methylation-sensitive genes(ITGAL, CD70) were measured by real-time mice when compared with BALB/c control mice and the difference was significant (P<0.05), while the expression of DNMTI and DNMT3A showed a tendency of decrease (P>0.05). The mRNA expression of CD70 was significantly higher (P<0.01), but the expression of ITGAL had no significant difference between the two P<0.01 ). Conclusion Decreased expression of DNMT3B may attribute to the elevated expression of methylation-seusitive gene CD70, thus lead to the dysfunction of CD4+ T cell and play an important role in the pathogenesis of SLE.