Expression of FOXO1 and FOXO3a on peripheral blood mononuclear cells and their clinical roles in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the expression of transcription factor FOXO1 and FOXO3a on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in patients with active or inactive systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and investigate the effect of FOXO1 and FOXO3a on the clinical features of SLE. Methods Thirty SLE patients and 10 healthy controls were enrolled. PBMC were separated from the peripheral blood. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot were applied to analyze the expression of FOXOI and FOXO3a. Results The level of FOXO1 expression was significantly decreased in active SLE patients compared with controls and patients with inactive SLE (P<0.05). The level of FOXO1 expression in inactive SLE patients was lower than that of the controls (P<0.05). The expression of FOXO1 mRNA was negatively correlated to SLEDAI. However, the level of FOXO3a was similar among the three groups. Conclusion The result suggests that FOXO1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of SLE and the expression level of FOXOI may be a good indicator for the disease activity of SLE.