Expressions of estrogen receptor-α and related cytokines and their clinical correlation in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the mechanism of effects of estrogen receptor (ER) on T and B lymphocytes in patients with SLE and synergistic effect of T and B lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of SLE.Methods Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was performed to detect the mRNA expressions of ER-α,interleukin 10 (IL-10) and B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)from 40 SLE patients and 40 normal human controls. The clinical and laboratory correlation with the levels of these parameters was analyzed. Results A significant increase was observed in the relative expression levels of ER-α, IL-10 and BLyS mRNA in SLE patients compared with the normal human controls (P ＜ 0.05 or 0.01 ), in active SLE patients compared with inactive SLE patients (P ＜ 0.05 or 0.01 ). Additionally, the mRNA expression levels of the 3 parameters were significantly correlated with the presence of renal damage, proteinuria, arthritis, etc. No statistical difference was observed in the mRNA expression levels of these parameters between female and male patients or between female and male normal controls. Conclusions IL-10 and BLyS appear to be correlated with the disease activity and severity of SLE, and ER-α may play an important role in the action mechanism of T and B lymphocytes in SLE.