A preliminary study of the correlation between the percentage of follicular helper T cells in peripheral blood and systemic lupus erythematosus disease / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the change and significance of T follicular helper cells(Tfh) in the peripheral blood of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods The percentage of CD4+ CXCR5+ICOS+ Tfh cells and the expression of activation marker CD69 on the Tfh cells of peripheral blood from 60 SLE patients (30 in active and 30 in inactive) and 30 healthy subjects (control group) were determined by flow cytometry.The correlations between the percentage of Tfh cells of SLE patients and SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI),anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) titers and the levels of complement 3 (C3),complement 4 (C4) were analyzed.ANOVA and Pearson's correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis.Results The percentage of the Tfh cells in the peripheral blood of active SLE patients was higher than inactive patients and healthy controls [(0.80±0.17)％ vs (0.63±0.13)％ vs (0.57±0.08)％; P＜0.01],there was also statistical significance between inactive patients and healthy controls (P＜0.05).The expression of CD69 on the Tfh cells in the peripheral blood of active SLE patients was higher than that in inactive and healthy controls [(7.3±1.6)％ vs (5.9±1.3)％ vs (5.2±0.9)％; P＜0.01].There was no statistical significant difference between inactive patients and healthy controls (P＞0.05).The percentage of Tfh cells of SLE patients was significantly related with SLEDAI (r=0.680,P＜0.01) and C3 levels (r=-0.416,P＜0.05),butthere was no correlation between that and the ANA titer,C4 levels (r=-0.042,-0.204,P＞0.05).Conclusion Increased percentage and activity of the Tfh cells in the peripheral blood of patients might contribute to the pathogenesis and development of SLE.