Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
Mediators Inflamm. 2012;2012:898053. doi: 10.1155/2012/898053. Epub 2012 Dec 25.
Emphysema is a T-cell mediated autoimmune disease caused predominantly by cigarette smoking. Th17 cells and related cytokines may contribute to this disorder. However, the possible implication of Th17 cells in regulating inflammatory response in emphysema remains to be elucidated. In the current study, we tested the protein levels of IL-17 and IL-21 in peripheral blood and lung tissues from cigarette-smoke- (CS-) exposed mice and air-exposed mice, analyzed the frequencies of CD4(+)IL-17(+)(Th17) cells, IL-21(+)Th17 cells, and CD8(+)IL-21R(+) T cells in peripheral blood and lung tissues of mice, and their relationship with emphysematous lesions, and explored the impact of IL-21 on cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells function in vitro. It was found that the frequencies of Th17, IL-21(+)Th17, and CD8(+)IL-21R(+) T cells and the levels of IL-17 and IL-21 of CS-exposed mice were much higher than those of the air-exposed mice and correlated with emphysematous lesions. Additionally, the number of IL-21(+)Th17 cells positively correlated with the number of CD8(+)IL-21R(+) T cells. The in vitro experiments showed that IL-21 significantly augmented the secretion of perforin and granzyme B in CD8(+) T cells from CS-exposed mice. These data indirectly provide evidence that Th17 cells could be involved in the control of the local and system inflammatory response in emphysema by regulating CD8(+) cytotoxic T-cell function.
肺气肿是一种由香烟烟雾引起的 T 细胞介导的自身免疫性疾病。Th17 细胞和相关细胞因子可能与这种疾病有关。然而，Th17 细胞在调节肺气肿中的炎症反应中的可能作用仍有待阐明。在本研究中，我们检测了香烟烟雾暴露小鼠和空气暴露小鼠外周血和肺组织中 IL-17 和 IL-21 的蛋白水平，分析了外周血和肺组织中 CD4+IL-17+(Th17)细胞、IL-21+Th17 细胞和 CD8+IL-21R+T 细胞的频率，及其与肺气肿病变的关系，并探讨了 IL-21 对体外细胞毒性 CD8+T 细胞功能的影响。结果发现，Th17、IL-21+Th17 和 CD8+IL-21R+T 细胞的频率以及 CS 暴露小鼠的 IL-17 和 IL-21 水平均明显高于空气暴露小鼠，并与肺气肿病变相关。此外，IL-21+Th17 细胞的数量与 CD8+IL-21R+T 细胞的数量呈正相关。体外实验表明，IL-21 显著增强了 CS 暴露小鼠 CD8+T 细胞中穿孔素和颗粒酶 B 的分泌。这些数据间接提供了证据，表明 Th17 细胞可能通过调节 CD8+细胞毒性 T 细胞功能参与肺气肿中局部和系统炎症反应的控制。
