Measurement of intracellular interferon-? and interleukin-4 in whole blood Th and Tc lymphocytes from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus / 中国免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the balance of Th1/Th2 and Tc1/Tc2 in peripheral whole blood from SLE patients and find out the relationship between disease activity and the balance of type 1 and type 2 cytokines.Methods:Peripheral blood cells from SLE patients(active,n=15,inactive,n=20) were stimulated and normal subjects(n=20) with phorbol myristate acetate and ionomycin(PMA/I) for 4 h,then IFN-? and IL-4 in CD3~+CD8~-T cells(Th) and CD3~+CD8~+T cells(Tc) were detected by recently developed intracytoplasmic cytokine-staining techniques,anti-dsDNA antibodies in serum was detected with enzyme linked immunosorbant assay(ELISA) and immunoglobulin in serum and protein in urine were analyzed with rate nephelometry.Results:In SLE patients with active disease,the percent of IFN-?-secreting Th cells significantly increased compared with SLE patients with inactive disease and normal after in vitro PMA/I stimulation,the percent of IFN-?-secreting Tc cels significantly increased compared with normal,but IL-4-secreting Th cells and Tc cells did not vary significantly.In SLE patients with inactive diseases,only the percent of IFN-?-secreting Tc cells significantly increased compared with control.The percent of IFN-?-secreting Th and Tc cells in patients with anti-dsDNA antibody(+) in serum decreased significantly compared with patients with anti-dsDNA antibody(-).Although the percent of IL-4-secreting Th and Tc cells in patients with aberrantly high level of immunoglobulin had no change,but the mean fluorescent intensify(MIF) of IL-4-secreting Th and Tc cells increased significantly compared with patients with normal level of immunoglobulin.There was no correlation between the percent of IFN-? or IL-4 in Th or Tc cells and the content of protein in patients' urine.Conclusion:The balance between type 1 and type 2 cytokine-secreting T cells is disrupted in SLE patients,especially IFN-?-secreting T cells,which is significantly in favour of Th2 cells.The level of IFN-? or IL-4 in Th or Tc cells varied partly with disease activity,which deserved further study.