The role of autophagy-related gene mTOR signaling pathway in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus / 医学研究生学报

ABSTRACT

Objective　The mechanism of autophagy-related gene mTOR signaling pathway is less studied in its pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of autophagy-related gene mTOR signaling pathway in the pathogenesis of SLE.　Methods　72 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in the Department of Rheumatism and Immunity in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical College from February 2018 to March 2019 were selected as observation group. 67 healthy subjects in the same period were used as control group. The ENA antibody profiles were determined by immunoblotting, including anti-SSA, anti-SSB, anti-Sm, anti-nRNP antibodies, and ds-DNA antibodies. IgG, IgA, IgM, and complement C3, C4 were determined using an IMMAGE protein analyzer. Fluorescence PCR was used to detect the autophagy-related gene mTOR signaling pathway. SPSS Pearson correlation analysis software was used to analyze the correlation between autophagy-related gene mTOR signaling pathway(pI3K mRNA, Akt mRNA, mTOR mRNA) and humoral immunity level in the two groups.　Results　The level of IgG, IgA, and IgM in the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). The levels of complement C3 and C4 in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). The expression levels of PI3K mRNA, Akt mRNA and mTOR mRNA in SLE group (0.52±0.06, 0.61±0.08, 0.48±0.05) were significantly lower than those in control group (1.00±0.09, 0.89± 0.07, 0.95±0.08), with statistically significant differences (P<0.05). The results of SPSS Pearson correlation analysis showed that Akt and mTOR signals expression were negatively correlated with IgG, IgA, IgM level,and ds-DNA, anti-SSA, anti-SSB, anti-Sm, anti-nRNP expression leve(P<0.05). On the contrary, they were positively correlated with complement C3, C 4 levels(P<0.05).　Conclusion　The expression of PI3K mRNA, Akt mRNA and mTOR mRNA in mTOR signaling pathway of autophagy related genes in SLE patients is inhibited, which is closely related to immunoglobulin and complement level. Therefore, detection of the autophagy related gene mTOR signaling pathway will be helpful in assessing the status of SLE patients.