Expression and clinical significan ce of miR-326 on regulatory T cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the association of miR-326 mRNA expression level on regulatory T cells between clinical manifestations of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in order to inves-tigate the role of miR-326 on Treg cells and pathogenesis as well as its association with disease activity of SLE. Methods Twenty milimeter anti-coagulated peripheral blood was obtained from 52 SLE patients and 20 healthy controls. Treg were purified by MACS from peripheral blood, in which the quantity of miR-326 and Ets-1 mRNA were assessed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Data were analyzed by using Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman correlation analysis. Results Compared with healthy controls [0.921(0.345, 1.879)], the expression of miR-326 mRNA level was significantly higher in Treg from SLE patients [2.927 (0.518, 8.662) (Z=-3.756, P<0.05). The difference between new-onset SLE patients [8.878(5.922, 12.466)] and recurrence group [3.512(0.582, 11.223)] with healthy controls was significant (Z=-2.135, Z=-4.928, P<0.05). The expression level of miR-326 in new-onset SLE patients was higher than inactive SLE patients (Z=-4.928, P<0.05). Significant difference of the expression level of miR-326 mRNA was found between new-onset SLE patients with serous cavity effusion [7.606(0.656, 16.795)] and new-onset SLE patients without it [1.840(0.576, 13.025)](Z=4.263, P<0.05). Our analysis showed that significant positive correlation was found between the expression of miR-326 mRNA in Treg with CRP (rs=0.481, P<0.05) and anti-C1q antibody (rs=0.729, P<0.05) from new-onset SLE patients. Conclusion The expression level of miR-326 is upregulated in Treg from SLE patients and is associated with disease active index, which suggests that miR-326 in Treg may participate the pathological process and disease activity in SLE.