Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, China.
Clin Rheumatol. 2012 Feb;31(2):335-9. doi: 10.1007/s10067-011-1865-4. Epub 2011 Oct 4.
The aim of this study was to compare the mRNA and serum expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and healthy controls. Sixty-two SLE patients and 15 healthy controls were recruited in the study. TWEAK messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 33 of 62 patients was detected by relative quantification RT-PCR. TWEAK concentrations in the sera of all 62 patients were measured by ELISA. TWEAK mRNA expressions in PBMCs were decreased in SLE patients compared with healthy controls. Lower TWEAK mRNA expression was also found in the active SLE patients when compared to inactive ones. However, there was no significant difference between patients with lupus nephritis (LN) and those without. The level of serum TWEAK (sTWEAK) in SLE patients was increased when compared to healthy controls. In addition, the sTWEAK level was higher in SLE patients with vasculitis than those without vasculitis, and so was in comparison between patients with and without headache. Nevertheless, no significant differences were found between active SLE patients and inactive patients, or between LN patients and non-LN SLE patients. In this study, patients with SLE express low levels of TWEAK mRNA but high levels of sTWEAK. Additionally, sTWEAK level was associated with several clinical manifestations of SLE, indicating that TWEAK may play a complex role in SLE.
本研究旨在比较肿瘤坏死因子样凋亡弱诱导剂（TWEAK）在系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）患者和健康对照者中的 mRNA 和血清表达。研究纳入了 62 例 SLE 患者和 15 名健康对照者。通过相对定量 RT-PCR 检测了 62 例患者中的 33 例外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）中的 TWEAK 信使 RNA（mRNA）表达。采用 ELISA 法检测了所有 62 例患者血清中的 TWEAK 浓度。与健康对照组相比，SLE 患者的 PBMC 中 TWEAK mRNA 表达降低。与非活动期患者相比，活动期 SLE 患者的 TWEAK mRNA 表达也较低。然而，狼疮肾炎（LN）患者与非 LN 患者之间无显著差异。与健康对照组相比，SLE 患者的血清 TWEAK（sTWEAK）水平升高。此外，与无血管炎的患者相比，有血管炎的 SLE 患者的 sTWEAK 水平更高，与有或无头痛的患者相比也是如此。然而，在活动期 SLE 患者与非活动期患者之间，或在 LN 患者与非 LN SLE 患者之间，均未发现显著差异。在这项研究中，SLE 患者表达低水平的 TWEAK mRNA 但高水平的 sTWEAK。此外，sTWEAK 水平与 SLE 的几种临床表现相关，表明 TWEAK 可能在 SLE 中发挥复杂作用。
