Szántó Sándor, Aleksza Magdolna, Mihály Erzsébet, Lakos Gabriella, Szabó Zoltán, Végvári Anikó, Sipka Sándor, Szekanecz Zoltán
Division of Rheumatology, Third Department of Internal Medicine, University of Debrecen, Medical and Health Science Center, Debrecen, Hungary.
J Rheumatol. 2008 Dec;35(12):2372-5. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.070839. Epub 2008 Nov 1.
To determine the role of inflammatory mediators in the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), we investigated peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and their intracellular cytokine production.
The percentages of T and B lymphocytes, natural killer (NK) cells, activated T lymphocytes, CD4+ T helper (Th), and CD8+ T cytotoxic (Tc) cells were determined by flow cytometry in 42 patients with AS compared to 52 healthy controls. In order to assess circulating Th1/Th2 and Tc1/Tc2 subsets, we used a whole-blood cytometric assay based on the intracellular interferon-gamma, interleukin 4 (IL-4), and IL-10 expression of the cells.
In the peripheral blood, the frequencies of CD4+ T helper and CD56+ NK cells were higher in AS (54.8% and 16.2%, respectively) compared to controls (45.3% and 10.8%) (p < 0.05). The frequencies of Th0 (1.9% vs 0.8%) and Tc0 (2.1% vs 0.8%) cells were higher, while that of Tc1 cells was lower (26.6% vs 40.1%) in patients with AS versus controls (p < 0.05). The percentage of IL-10-producing Tc cells was significantly higher in AS (18.4%) versus controls (8.5%) (p < 0.05). Finally, the active phase of AS was associated with significantly lower percentage of IL-10-producing Tc cells in the peripheral blood (6.6%) compared to patients with inactive AS (23.1%).
Our results provide further evidence for an altered T cell subset distribution and intracytoplasmic cytokine balance in AS.
为了确定炎症介质在强直性脊柱炎（AS）发病机制中的作用，我们研究了外周血淋巴细胞亚群及其细胞内细胞因子的产生情况。
采用流式细胞术测定了42例AS患者与52例健康对照者外周血中T淋巴细胞、B淋巴细胞、自然杀伤（NK）细胞、活化T淋巴细胞、CD4⁺辅助性T细胞（Th）和CD8⁺细胞毒性T细胞（Tc）的百分比。为了评估循环中的Th1/Th2和Tc1/Tc2亚群，我们基于细胞内干扰素-γ、白细胞介素4（IL-4）和IL-10的表达，采用全血细胞计数法进行检测。
在外周血中，AS患者的CD4⁺辅助性T细胞和CD56⁺NK细胞频率高于对照组（分别为54.8%和16.2%）（对照组分别为45.3%和10.8%）（p<0.05）。与对照组相比，AS患者的Th0细胞（1.9%对0.8%）和Tc0细胞（2.1%对0.8%）频率更高，而Tc1细胞频率更低（26.6%对40.1%）（p<0.05）。AS患者中产生IL-10的Tc细胞百分比显著高于对照组（18.4%对8.5%）（p<0.05）。最后，与非活动期AS患者（23.1%）相比，AS活动期外周血中产生IL-10的Tc细胞百分比显著降低（6.6%）。
我们的结果为AS中T细胞亚群分布和细胞内细胞因子平衡改变提供了进一步的证据。
