Change and significance of peripheral blood follicular helper T lymphocytes percentage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis / 重庆医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the change and significance of follicular helper T cells (Tfh) percentage in the peripheral blood of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods The RA patients treated in this hospital from September to November 2016 were selected and divided into the RA active group and RA stable group,35 cases in each group.Contemporaneous 35 individuals undergoing physical examination were selected as the healthy control group.The percentage of peripheral blood CD4+ CXCR5+ ICOS+ Tfh cells was detected by flow cytometry.The correlations between the percentage of peripheral blood Tfh cells in RA patients with the RA disease activity score 28 (DAS28),anti-CCP antibody and rheumatoid factor(RF) levels were analyzed.Results The percentage of peripheral blood Tfh cells in the RA active group was (0.84±0.16) ％,which was significantly higher than (0.64±0.15)％ in the RA stable group and (0.56±0.14)％ in the healthy control group,the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.01);moreover the percentage of peripheral blood Tfh cells in the RA stable group was also higher than that in the healthy control group (P＜0.05).The percentage of peripheral blood Tfh cells in RA patients had significantly positive correlation with DAS28 score and anti-CCP antibody level (r=0.355,0.324;P＜0.01),and had no correlation with the RF level (r=0.205,P＞0.05).Conclusion The percentage increase of peripheral blood Tfh cells in the patients with RA might be related with the pathogenesis and development of RA.