The study of DNA CpG methylation and lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 expression in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the methylation of CpG motifs and expression of lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) mRNA in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and evaluate their associations. Methods The peripheral blood lymphocytes were collected from 26 patients with SLE and 17 normal individuals. The methylation of CpG motifs was detected by the 5-methylcytosine antibody and flow eytometry, and the expression of LFA-1 mRNA was analyzed by RT-PCR. Results Methylation of CpG motifs in patients with SLE was lower than the control subjects (P<0.05), and a negative correlation existed between methylation of CpG motifs and SLEDAI (P<0.05). While expression of LFA-1 mRNA in patients with SLE was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), and a positive correlation could be detected between the expression of LFA-1 mRNA and SLEDAI (P<0.05). There was a negative correlation between methylation of CpG motifs and expression of LFA-1 mRNA (P<0.05) in patients with SLE. Conclusion Hypomethylation of CpG motifs does exist in patients with SI,E, and is correlated with high expression of LFA-1, therefore, epige-netics plays an important role in the pathogenesis of SLE.