Expression of zinc finger protein ZBTB20 in peripheral blood B cells in patients with SLE and its clinical significance / 重庆医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the expression of zinc finger and BTB domain containing 20 (ZBTB20) in peripheral blood B cells of the patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE),and to investigate its clinical significance in SLE.Methods The ZBTB20 mRNA expression level in peripheral blood CD19+B cells of 36 cases of SLE (SLE group) and 30 healthy controls(control group) was detected by RT-PCR.The ZBTB20 protein level was detected by western blot;the proportion of B cell subset was measured by flow cytometry.Then the relationship between the ZBTB20 mRNA expression with B cells subset proportion change and its correlation with clinical indicators[anti-dsDNA antibody,immunoglobulin G (IgG),anti-nucleosome antibody (ANA) and anti-extractable nuclear antigen (ENA) antibody] in SLE patients were analyzed.Results The expression level of ZBTB20 mRNA in peripheral blood CD19+B cells of the SLE group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P＜0.05).The peripheral blood ZBTB20 protein level was higher than that of the control group (P＜0.05);the peripheral blood B cells subsets and CD19+ B cells proportion in the SLE patients were decreased,while the CD19-CD138+ plasmocytes/CD19+ B cells ratio and CD19-CD138+ plasmocytes proportion were significantly increased (P＜0.05).The expression level of ZBTB20 mRNA in B cells of SLE patients was positively correlated with the ratio of CD19-CD138+ plasmocytes/CD19+ B cells (P＜0.05).The expression of ZBTB20 mRNA was positively correlated with anti-ds-DNA antibody,ANA and anti-ENA antibody (P＜0.05).Conclusion ZBTB20 might participate in the pathogenesis of SLE possibly via promoting B cells differentiation.