Migita K, Miyashita T, Maeda Y, Kimura H, Nakamura M, Yatsuhashi H, Ishibashi H, Eguchi K
Clinical Research Centre, NHO Nagasaki Medical Centre, Omura, Japan.
Clin Exp Immunol. 2005 Oct;142(1):84-91. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.2005.02897.x.
Type 1 IFN is thought to be implicated in the autoimmune process of SLE. Plasmacytoid dendric cells (DC), which are natural IFN-alpha producing cells, play a pivotal epipathogenic role in SLE. The present study was undertaken to investigate the phenotypic characteristics of peripheral blood DC in SLE patients in comparison with those of healthy controls. Samples from 20 SLE patients and 18 healthy controls were studied. Three-colour flow cytometry was performed to identify myeloid DC, as CD11c(+) lineage marker(-), and HLA-DR(+) cells and plasmacytoid DC, as BDCA-2(+) linage marker(-), and HLA-DR(+) cells. We used the whole blood 'lyse/no-wash' procedure, which allows precise counting of peripheral blood DC. BDCA-2(+) plasmacytoid DC and CD11c(+) myeloid DC were reduced in SLE patients compared with controls. Similarly, BDCA-3(+) DC were reduced in SLE patients. These results indicated that SLE patients had a reduced number of both BDCA-2(+) plasmacytoid DC and CD11c(+) myeloid DC. These alternations of the DC subset may drive the autoimmune response in SLE.
1型干扰素被认为与系统性红斑狼疮(SLE)的自身免疫过程有关。浆细胞样树突状细胞(DC)是天然产生干扰素-α的细胞,在SLE中起关键的致病作用。本研究旨在比较SLE患者与健康对照者外周血DC的表型特征。研究了20例SLE患者和18例健康对照者的样本。采用三色流式细胞术鉴定髓样DC,即CD11c(+)谱系标志物(-)和HLA-DR(+)细胞,以及浆细胞样DC,即BDCA-2(+)谱系标志物(-)和HLA-DR(+)细胞。我们采用全血“裂解/不洗涤”程序,该程序可精确计数外周血DC。与对照组相比,SLE患者中BDCA-2(+)浆细胞样DC和CD11c(+)髓样DC减少。同样,SLE患者中BDCA-3(+)DC也减少。这些结果表明,SLE患者中BDCA-2(+)浆细胞样DC和CD11c(+)髓样DC的数量均减少。DC亚群的这些改变可能驱动SLE中的自身免疫反应。