ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the effect of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) on the apoptosis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and on the level of Th17 cells and IL-17.Methods The peripheral blood of 20 incipient SLE patients in active stage were taken,and PBMC were separated for cell culture.Using HCQ and Chlorambucil (CLB) as an intervention,and after cultured for 24 h and 48 h,the apoptosis of PBMC and the level of Th17 were tested using Flow cytometry (FCM),the supernatants were collected to test for the level of cytokine IL-17 by ELISA.One-way ANOVA was used and SNK-q was used in the comparison between every two groups.Results There was significant difference in the apoptosis rate of mononuclear cells between the HCQ and CLB group at 24 h [HCQ:(10.3±0.7)％,CLB:(8.5±1.1)％] and48 h [HCQ:(13.9±0.6)％,CLB:(11.8±0.8)％] (P＜0.05).There was significant difference between HCQ [24 h:(0.81±0.13)％,48 h:(0.73±0.45)％] and CLB group [24 h:(0.78±0.26)％,48 h:(0.68±0.20)％] in Th17 percentage (P＜0.05).The levels of IL-17 in the supematants of the HCQ group [24 h:(26.3±0.97)％,48 h:(24.2±0).91)％] and CLB group [24 h:(24.6±0.7)％,48 h:(22.6±1.1)％] were significandy different between the two groups(P＜0.05).Conclusion HCQ has apoptosis-induction effect on PBMC,and it can decrease the number of Th17 and IL-17 level in the PBMCs.