Effects of arsenic trioxide on anti-dsDNA antibody and the expression of DNA methyltransferase 1 and CD11a genes in lupus MRL/lpr mice / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of arsenic trioxide (ATO) on anti-dsDNA antibody and the expression of DNA methyltransferase 1-mRNA and CD11a-mRNA in lupus MRL/lpr mice.Methods MRL/lpr mice were divided into three groupsthe ATO group,the sodium chloride(NS) group,and the cyclophosphamide(CTX) group.The control group consisted of 20 syngeneic normal C57/BL mice,which were subdivided into the ATO group and the NS group.After two-month treatment,all mice were sacrificed.Blood routine test was conducted by SYSMEX KX21.The anti-dsDNA antibody in the serum were detected by ELISA.The expression of DNMT1 and CD11a was determined by RT-PCR.ANOVA and paired t test were used for statistical analysis.Results① The serum level of anti-dsDNA antibody(0.89±0.07) and the gray scale value of CD11a-mRNA(0.43±0.25) in the ATO group were much lower than those in the NS group of MRL/lpr mice(1.77±0.28,P＜0.01; 0.99±0.31,P＜0.05),while the gray scale value of DNMTI-mRNA (0.32±0.30) was significantly higher than that in the NS group(0.16±0.26,P＜0.05 ).② The serum levels of anti-dsDNA antibody was low in both the ATO group and the CTX group (0.90±0.07,0.66±0.22),and it was higher in the ATO group than that in the CTX group (P＜0.05).The gray scale value of DNMT1 mRNA in the ATO group (0.32±0.30) was higher than that in the CTX group (0.16±0.18,P＜0.05) in MRL/lpr mice,and the gray scale value of CD11a mRNA in the ATO group(0.43±0.25) was lower than that in the CTX group (0.86±0.31,P＜0.05) in MRL/lpr mice.③ There was no difference in above parameters between the ATO-group and NS group in C57/BL mice(P＞0.05).ConclusionArsenic trioxide can reduce the serum level of auto-antibody and reverse low methylation.But it has no effect on normal mice.