Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37, Guoxue Xiang, Chengdu 610041, PR China.
Cell Immunol. 2012 Sep;279(1):25-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cellimm.2012.09.001. Epub 2012 Sep 19.
Anti-TNF-α therapies have been applied in RA treatment, but the regulatory effect of the drug on immune system is not clear. In this study, we included 33 active RA patients and divided them into two groups. One group received anti-TNF-α mAb+methotrexate for 24 weeks, the other group got placebo+methotrexate for the first 12 weeks and anti-TNF-α mAb+methotrexate for another 12 weeks. Circulatory regulatory T cell (Treg) and effector T cell (Teff) frequency was analyzed pre-therapy and week 12 and week 24 for both group patients by flowcytometry. Our results indicated significantly elevated Treg and decreased Teff at week 24 compared with pre-therapy and week 12 for both group patients, and a little higher Treg and lower Teff frequency in anti-TNF-α therapy group than in placebo therapy patients. Our results demonstrated anti-TNF-α therapy has regulatory effect on immune system of RA patients by promoting Treg proportion increase and suppressing Teff.
抗 TNF-α 疗法已应用于 RA 治疗，但药物对免疫系统的调节作用尚不清楚。本研究纳入 33 例活动期 RA 患者，分为两组。一组接受抗 TNF-α mAb+甲氨蝶呤治疗 24 周，另一组前 12 周给予安慰剂+甲氨蝶呤，后 12 周给予抗 TNF-α mAb+甲氨蝶呤。采用流式细胞术分析两组患者治疗前、治疗 12 周和 24 周时循环调节性 T 细胞（Treg）和效应性 T 细胞（Teff）的频率。结果表明，两组患者在治疗 24 周时 Treg 显著升高，Teff 较治疗前和治疗 12 周时降低，抗 TNF-α 治疗组 Treg 频率略高于安慰剂治疗组，Teff 频率略低。本研究结果表明，抗 TNF-α 疗法通过增加 Treg 比例和抑制 Teff 对 RA 患者的免疫系统具有调节作用。
