Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan.
J Rheumatol. 2010 Jan;37(1):45-52. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.090450. Epub 2009 Dec 1.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototype of systemic autoimmune disease in which cytokines such as B lymphocyte chemoattractant (BLC, or CXC motif ligand 13, CXCL13) may play important roles in pathogenesis. We investigated the implications of CXCL13 in SLE and lupus nephritis.
Serum samples from 425 patients with SLE and 106 healthy control individuals were analyzed for the concentration of CXCL13 by ELISA. Tissue expression of CXCL13 and its corresponding receptor CXCR5 were observed in lupus kidney. The CXCR5-bearing B cells in SLE patients were analyzed by flow cytometry.
Serum levels of CXCL13 were higher in SLE patients compared to controls. SLE patients with lupus nephritis or positive anti-dsDNA antibodies had significantly higher serum CXCL13 levels. The peripheral venous blood B cells that bear CXCR5 were more abundant in SLE patients as detected by flow cytometry. CXCR5 and CXCL13 were highly expressed in the renal cortex from patients with lupus nephritis.
Our results suggest that BLC/CXCL13 as well as its corresponding receptor, CXCR5, may play important roles in the pathogenesis of SLE and in lupus nephritis.
红斑狼疮（SLE）是系统性自身免疫性疾病的典型代表，其中细胞因子如 B 淋巴细胞趋化因子（BLC，或 CXC 基序配体 13，CXCL13）可能在发病机制中发挥重要作用。我们研究了 CXCL13 在 SLE 和狼疮性肾炎中的意义。
通过 ELISA 分析了 425 例 SLE 患者和 106 例健康对照者的血清样本中的 CXCL13 浓度。观察了狼疮肾中 CXCL13 及其相应受体 CXCR5 的组织表达。通过流式细胞术分析了 SLE 患者中携带 CXCR5 的 B 细胞。
与对照组相比，SLE 患者的血清 CXCL13 水平更高。狼疮肾炎或抗 dsDNA 抗体阳性的 SLE 患者的血清 CXCL13 水平明显更高。通过流式细胞术检测到，SLE 患者外周静脉血中携带 CXCR5 的 B 细胞更为丰富。狼疮肾炎患者的肾皮质中高表达 CXCR5 和 CXCL13。
我们的研究结果表明，BLC/CXCL13 及其相应的受体 CXCR5 可能在 SLE 和狼疮性肾炎的发病机制中发挥重要作用。
