Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Pediatric Research Institute, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400014, PR China.
BMC Immunol. 2011 Apr 14;12:25. doi: 10.1186/1471-2172-12-25.
Foxp3 protein plays a critical role in mediating the inflammatory response and can inhibit the proinflammatory IL-23/IL-17 pathway. However, the molecular interplay of Foxp3 and the IL-23/IL-17 pathway in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains unclear. To this end, we analyzed the expression patterns of Foxp3- and IL-23/IL-17 pathway-related proinflammatory cytokines in 39 patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure, 71 patients with CHB and 32 healthy controls.
Foxp3 expression was found to be elevated in and mainly expressed by the CD4+ T cell sub-population of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and liver tissues of patients with hepatitis B. The intrahepatic expression of Foxp3 strongly correlated with the copies of HBV DNA and the concentration of surface antigen, HBsAg. IL-23/IL-17 pathway-related proinflammatory cytokines were also found to be significantly increased in patients' liver tissues, as compared to healthy controls. Moreover, Foxp3 expression was strikingly correlated with the production of these cytokines in liver tissues of CHB patients.
The closely-correlated increase of Foxp3 and IL-23/IL-17 pathway activity in HBV-infected livers suggests that the proinflammatory IL-23/IL-17 pathway had not been effectively suppressed by the host immune machinery, such as Treg (Foxp3) cells. Constitutive activation of the IL-23/17 pathway, thus, may support the chronic hepatitis B state.
Foxp3 蛋白在介导炎症反应中起着关键作用,可抑制促炎的 IL-23/IL-17 通路。然而,慢性乙型肝炎(CHB)患者中 Foxp3 与 IL-23/IL-17 通路的分子相互作用尚不清楚。为此,我们分析了 39 例慢加急性肝衰竭患者、71 例 CHB 患者和 32 名健康对照者外周血单个核细胞和肝组织中 Foxp3-和 IL-23/IL-17 通路相关促炎细胞因子的表达模式。
Foxp3 在乙型肝炎患者外周血单个核细胞和肝组织中的 CD4+T 细胞亚群中表达上调,主要由其表达。Foxp3 在肝内的表达与 HBV DNA 拷贝数和表面抗原 HBsAg 的浓度强烈相关。与健康对照者相比,患者肝组织中 IL-23/IL-17 通路相关促炎细胞因子也明显增加。此外,Foxp3 表达与 CHB 患者肝组织中这些细胞因子的产生呈显著相关。
HBV 感染肝脏中 Foxp3 和 IL-23/IL-17 通路活性的密切相关增加表明,促炎的 IL-23/IL-17 通路未被宿主免疫机制(如 Treg(Foxp3)细胞)有效抑制。IL-23/17 通路的组成性激活可能支持慢性乙型肝炎状态。