Influence of B lymphocyte stimulator on the production of anti-FcεRI and anti-IgE antibodies by B lymphocytes from patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore if B lymphocyte stimulator (BlyS) stimulates B lymphocytes from patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) to produce anti-high affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) or anti-IgE antibodies.Methods Totally,300 CIU patients and 300 health controls were enrolled in this study.Blood samples were obtained from these subjects.Peripheral blood B lymphocytes were isolated and cultured in vitro for 72 hours.Then,BlyS of various concentrations (2,4,8,16 ng/ml) was added to the culture medium of B lymphocytes followed by another 72-hour culture.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to determine the serum levels of BlyS,anti-FcεRI and anti-IgE antibodies,as well as the supernatant levels of anti-FcεRI and anti-IgE antibodies.The relationship between BlyS and anti-FcεRI and anti-IgE antibody production was assessed.SPSS software version 16.0 was used for statistical analysis.Chi-square test was performed to compare the positivity rate of antibodies,and analysis of variance and least significance difference-t test to assess numerical data.Results The CIU patients showed higher levels of serum BlyS (t =3.04,P ＜ 0.01),anti-FcεRI antibodies (t =3.51,P ＜ 0.01),and anti-IgE antibodies (t =3.29,P ＜ 0.01) compared with the health controls.The serum level of BlyS was positively correlated with that of anti-FcεRI antibodies (r =0.93,P ＜ 0.01) and anti-IgE antibodies (r =0.91,P ＜ 0.01).The levels of anti-FcεRI antibodies and anti-IgE antibodies were significantly increased in the culture supematant of patient-derived B lymphocytes treated with BlyS compared with those remaining untreated (t =3.67,3.56,respectively,both P ＜ 0.01),and the concentration of BlyS was positively correlated with the levels of both anti-FcεRI antibodies and anti-IgE antibodies (r =0.96,0.91,respectively,both P ＜ 0.01).The coincidence rate between the serum and supernatant was 94.76％ and 87.84％ in the detection of anti-FcεRI antibodies and anti-IgE antibodies respectively.Conclusions BlyS level is upregulated in the serum of patients with CIU,which may play an important role in the pathogenesis of CIU by stimulating B lymphocytes to produce anti-FcεRI antibodies or anti-IgE antibodies.