Abbass Amal A, Mohamed Nesrine A, Abdel-Rehim Asmaa S M
Egypt J Immunol. 2013;20(2):21-8.
The concept that regulatory T cells (Treg) play a key role in both development and maintenance of autoimmune response in rheumatological diseases is well accepted. In recent years, several studies analyzed Treg cell phenotype and function in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the prototypical systemic autoimmune disorder in humans. The forkhead family transcription factor FOXP3 currently represents the most specific marker molecule for T cells with suppressive/regulatory capacity (Treg). Using real-time polymerase chain reaction, we quantified messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of FOXP3 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 19 subjects with active SLE, 16 with inactive lupus and 20 healthy subjects. Relative FOXP3 gene expression was assessed by the comparative CT method in which FOXP3 gene expression was normalized to GAPDH gene expression in each sample. Our preliminary investigations demonstrated higher FOXP3 expression in active SLE patients as compared to inactive SL E (median 8.83 and interquartile range 0.74-347.0 versus 0.426 and 0.04-3.93 respectively; P < 0.05). Compared to the control group (median of 0.01 and IQR 0.011-0.07), both active and inactive SLE patients showed increased expression for FOXP3 with P value < 0.01, respectively. In the active group, FOXP3 mRNA level correlated positively with disease activity as assessed with the SLEDAI index. However, this correlation did not reach statistical significance (r = 0.122; P = 0.08).
调节性T细胞（Treg）在风湿性疾病自身免疫反应的发生和维持中起关键作用这一概念已被广泛接受。近年来，多项研究分析了系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）（人类典型的系统性自身免疫性疾病）中Treg细胞的表型和功能。叉头家族转录因子FOXP3目前是具有抑制/调节能力的T细胞（Treg）最特异的标志物分子。我们采用实时聚合酶链反应，对19例活动期SLE患者、16例非活动期狼疮患者和20例健康受试者外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）中FOXP3的信使核糖核酸（mRNA）表达进行了定量。通过比较CT法评估相对FOXP3基因表达，其中将每个样本中FOXP3基因表达相对于甘油醛-3-磷酸脱氢酶（GAPDH）基因表达进行标准化。我们的初步研究表明，与非活动期SLE患者相比，活动期SLE患者的FOXP3表达更高（中位数分别为8.83和四分位间距0.74 - 347.0，而后者为0.426和0.04 - 3.93；P < 0.05）。与对照组（中位数为0.01和四分位间距0.011 - 0.07）相比，活动期和非活动期SLE患者的FOXP3表达均增加，P值均< 0.01。在活动期组中，FOXP3 mRNA水平与用SLE疾病活动指数（SLEDAI）评估的疾病活动度呈正相关。然而，这种相关性未达到统计学意义（r = 0.122；P = 0.08）。
