Aberrant expression of Epstein-Barr virus genes in children with systemic lupus erythematosus / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the expression and significance of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genes in children with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from 20 children with SLE and 12 healthy human controls.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was conducted to detect anti-EBV viral capsid antigen (VCA) IgG/IgM antibodies.The culture supernatants of cells from patients with anti-EBV VCA IgG/IgM antibodies were collected,and PBMCs from the patients and controls were co-cultured with the supernatants respectively for 12 days.RNA was extracted from PBMCs before and after the coculture,and reverse transcription-PCR was performed to detect the expression of EBV genes,including LMP1,LMP2,EBNA1,BCRF1,BLLF1 and BILF1 genes.Results LMP1 gene was detected in fresh PBMCs from 10 out of 20 patients and 1 out of 12 controls (P ＜ 0.05).No significant differences were observed between the patients and controls in the detection rate of LMP2 gene (4/20 vs.1/12),EBNA1 gene (13/20 vs.3/12),BCRF1 gene (3/20 vs.1/12) or BLLF1 gene (5/20 vs.2/12) in fresh PBMCs.After co-culture with the supernatants of cells from patients with anti-EBV VCA IgG/IgM antibodies,the expressions of EBV genes in these PBMCs were increased to different degrees,and there was a significant difference in the expressions of EBV latent genes LMP1,LMP2 and EBNA-1 as well as EBV replicative genes BCRF1 and BLLF1 between the patient-derived and control-derived PBMCs (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions There is an aberrant expression of EBV genes in children with SLE,and EBV genes may contribute to the development of SLE.