Scala E, Paganelli R, Sampogna F, Abeni D, Colonna L, De Pità O, Puddu P, Russo G
Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IDI - IRCCS), Rome, Italy.
Clin Exp Immunol. 2005 Mar;139(3):551-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.2005.02729.x.
We studied the expression of adhesion molecules affecting recirculation and homing on peripheral blood CD4(+) T cells of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), in order to evaluate whether the distribution of tissue targeted subsets could reflect the participation of internal organs or the extent of cutaneous involvement [i.e. limited cutaneous (lc) and diffuse cutaneous (dc)]. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 51 patients with SSc and 19 sex- and age-matched controls were investigated by cytofluorimetric analysis for lymphocyte subpopulations carrying the following surface molecules: CD3, CD4, CLA, alpha4beta7 and alpha4beta1. Standard routine biochemistry and clinical examinations were also performed in all patients. We found that both alpha4beta1(+) and alpha4beta7(+) cells within the CD4(+) T cell population were significantly increased, while CLA(+) CD4(+) T cells were significantly reduced in SSc, compared to healthy donors. Significantly lower absolute numbers of alpha4beta7(+) cells were found in lc- compared to dc-SSc. Patients with oesophageal involvement had high numbers of alpha4beta7(+) cells, while those with nephritis also showed low levels of CLA(+) cells. Lung involvement was related directly to alpha4beta1(+) cell numbers and inversely to alpha4beta7(+) CD4 cell numbers. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that distinct CD4(+) T cell populations with selective homing properties show changes from normal distribution in SSc, and such changes are related to clinical expression and organ involvement in the course of the disease.
我们研究了影响再循环和归巢的黏附分子在系统性硬化症（SSc）患者外周血CD4(+) T细胞上的表达，以评估组织靶向亚群的分布是否能反映内脏器官的参与情况或皮肤受累程度[即局限性皮肤型（lc）和弥漫性皮肤型（dc）]。通过细胞荧光分析，对51例SSc患者和19例性别及年龄匹配的对照者的外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）进行了研究，以检测携带以下表面分子的淋巴细胞亚群：CD3、CD4、皮肤淋巴细胞相关抗原（CLA）、α4β7和α4β1。所有患者还进行了标准的常规生化检查和临床检查。我们发现，与健康供者相比，SSc患者CD4(+) T细胞群体中的α4β1(+)和α4β7(+)细胞均显著增加，而CLA(+) CD4(+) T细胞显著减少。与dc-SSc相比，lc-SSc患者的α4β7(+)细胞绝对数量明显更低。有食管受累的患者α4β7(+)细胞数量较多，而有肾炎的患者CLA(+)细胞水平也较低。肺部受累与α4β1(+)细胞数量直接相关，与α4β7(+) CD4细胞数量呈负相关。综上所述，我们的研究结果表明，具有选择性归巢特性的不同CD4(+) T细胞群体在SSc中显示出与正常分布不同的变化，且这些变化与疾病过程中的临床表现和器官受累情况相关。
