The effects of arsenic trioxide on the expression of autoantibody and interleukin-10, interleukin-12 in MRL/lpr mice / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of arsenic trioxide (ATO) on the expression of autoan-tibody and interleukin (IL)-10 IL-12 in MRL/lpr mice. Methods MRL/lpr mice wereseparated into 3 different groups. The 3 groups received arsenic trioxide (ATO, 0.4 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), cyclophosphamide (CTX,50 mg/kg) and sodium chloride (NS, volume weight-determined) abdominal injection respee-tively. The treatment stopped 2 months later. Afterwards, the rates of CD3~+(T) cells, CD3~+CD4~+(Th) cells and the CD3~+CD4~+cells which produced IL-10 and IL-12 were detected using single-cell measurement of intr-acellular eytokines by flow cytometry after polyclonal stimulation with PMA and ionomycin for 4 hours in 5% CO_(2.)Serum levels of IL 10 and IL-12 were assessed using the Mouse cytokines ELISA Kit. One-way ANOVA LSD test and paires t test were used for statistical analysis.Results ①The level of anti-dsDNA antibody after treatment was 0.92±0.06, while it was 1.14±0.58 before treatment. So the ds-DNA antibody level was significantly decreased in ATO group (P<0.01), while it was dramatically increased in the NS groups (P<0.05) after the treatment;②ATO group had significantly less CD3~+ cells and CD3~+CD4~+ cells[(44±4)% and (20±4)%]compared withNS group [(59±5)%and(30±3)%](P<0.01).③The serum level of IL-12 in the ATO group was (84±12) pg/ml,while it was (103±13)pg/ml in the NS group (P=0.018).④The intracellular levels of IL-10 and IL-12 produced by CD3~+CD4~+ (Th) cells in the ATO group were ( 1.5±0.4)% and (2.43±0.42)%, which was significantly lower than those in the NS group respectively (2.5±0.5)% and (3.24±0.40)%(P<0.01). Conclusion Arsenic trioxide can reduce the production of anti-dsDNA antibody,inhibit the activation and proliferation of both T cells and Th subsets in the MRLApr mice, and hence decrease the serum levels of IL-12 and the levels of IL-10, IL-12 produced by Th cells.