RESUMO
Background: There are somehow conflicting data in the literature on whether Treg cells in human SLE are impaired
Aim of the work: to quantify CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3[+] T cells [Treg] in Egyptian children with SLE and to correlate these findings with their disease activity scores and drug therapy
Methods: We enrolled 37 Egyptian children with active SLE. The disease activity was assessed by measuring serum levels of anti-ds DNA antibody and by using scores of SLEDAL Twenty healthy children were also enrolled as normal controls
Results: The CD4[+]CD25[+] CD4[+]CD25[bright] and CD4[=]CD25[dim] cells in patients were significantly increased in comparison to controls. There was no significant difference in the Fax% gated on CD4+CD25[bright], CD4[+]CD25[dim] but on the other hand there was a significant increase when gated on CD4 CD25 and whole CD4[+] cells in patients than controls. There was no significant difference between different grades of activity, different lines of treatments and patients outcomes as regards all studied values. There was no significant correlation between any of studied parameters with SLED AI score except gated lymphocytes which showed significant negative correlation
Conclusions: There is increase in the expression of FoxpS in CD4 T cells mostly CD25 in Egyptian pediatric patients with active SLE under corticosteroid treatment without correlation with SLED AI score