ABSTRACT
AIM: To investigate the characteristics of the peripheral T cell immune response of patients at different stages of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). METHODS: 61 Arterial atherosclerotic cerebral infarct induced VCI patients, including 28 vascular dementia (VaD) cases, 33 no dementia (VCI-ND) cases, and 25 atherosclerotic cerebral infarct patients with normal cognitive function (CI-NC) as controls were enrolled. Peripheral CD8(+)T, CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg, CD4(+)IL-17(+) Th17 cells proportion, and IL-1ß, IL-2, IL-6, IFN-γ levels, and neuropsychological function were assessed. RESULTS: There was no difference in average age, gender ratio, years of education, and risk factors of infarct among the three groups. Peripheral CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg in VCI-ND and VaD groups were significantly lower than that in controls, and CD8(+) T cells were markedly elevated in VaD group. The IL-17(+) Th17 cell proportion did not differ significantly among three groups. IL-6 and IFN-γ expression levels in VaD group were higher than those in other two groups. The VDAS-Cog executive function subscale score was negatively correlated with CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg proportion in VCI patients, and positively correlated with IL-6 levels. CONCLUSION: VCI patients demonstrated a decrease in peripheral CD4(+) Treg proportion and increased IL-6 expression, and both parameters were correlated with the decline of executive functions.
