Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research, The First Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, 130032, China.
Dig Dis Sci. 2015 Feb;60(2):405-13. doi: 10.1007/s10620-014-3372-3. Epub 2014 Nov 18.
Aberrant activation of follicular helper T (TFH) and B cells is associated with the development of autoimmune diseases. However, little is known about the potential role of these cells in the development of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC).
This study aimed at characterizing the numbers of different subsets of circulating Tfh and B cells as well as evaluating their potential association with the levels of immunoglobulins and autoantibodies in newly diagnosed PBC patients.
The numbers of circulating CD27(+), CD38(+), CD86(+) and CD95(+) B cells as well as inducible T cell costimulator (ICOS)(+) and programmed death-1 (PD-1)(+), IL-21(+) TFH cells were examined in 58 patients with newly diagnosed PBC and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs).
The numbers of circulating CD38(+)CD19(+), CD86(+)CD19(+), and CD95(+)CD19(+) B cells; CD3(+)CD4(+)CXCR5(+)ICOS(+) and CD3(+)CD4(+)CXCR5(+)PD-1(+) Tfh cells; and the levels of serum IL-21 in the PBC patients were significantly greater, but the numbers of CD27(+)CD19(+) B cells were significantly less than those in the HCs (p < 0.05). The numbers of CD3(+)CD4(+)CXCR5(+)ICOS(+) Tfh cells were positively correlated with the numbers of CD38(+)CD19(+) and CD86(+)CD38(+)CD19(+) B cells and the levels of serum anti-mitochondrial antibodies against M2 antigen (AMA-M2), AMA and immunolgubin M (IgM) in the PBC patients. The levels of serum IL-21 were positively correlated with the levels of serum AMA-M2, AMA, IgG and IgM, but negatively with the numbers of CD27(+)CD19(+) B cells in the PBC patients.
Increased numbers of circulating ICOS(+) and IL-21(+) Tfh and CD38(+) plasma cells may be exhibited by patients with recent diagnoses of PBC.
滤泡辅助 T（TFH）和 B 细胞的异常激活与自身免疫性疾病的发展有关。然而，人们对这些细胞在原发性胆汁性肝硬化（PBC）发展中的潜在作用知之甚少。
本研究旨在描述循环 TFH 和 B 细胞不同亚群的数量，并评估它们与新诊断的 PBC 患者免疫球蛋白和自身抗体水平的潜在相关性。
检查了 58 例新诊断的 PBC 患者和 30 例匹配的健康对照者（HCs）循环中 CD27(+)、CD38(+)、CD86(+)和 CD95(+)B 细胞以及诱导型 T 细胞共刺激因子（ICOS）(+)和程序性死亡-1（PD-1）(+)、IL-21(+)TFH 细胞的数量。
PBC 患者的循环 CD38(+)CD19(+)、CD86(+)CD19(+)和 CD95(+)CD19(+)B 细胞；CD3(+)CD4(+)CXCR5(+)ICOS(+)和 CD3(+)CD4(+)CXCR5(+)PD-1(+)TFH 细胞数量；以及血清 IL-21 水平明显高于 HCs（p<0.05），而 CD27(+)CD19(+)B 细胞数量明显低于 HCs（p<0.05）。PBC 患者 CD3(+)CD4(+)CXCR5(+)ICOS(+)TFH 细胞数量与 CD38(+)CD19(+)和 CD86(+)CD38(+)CD19(+)B 细胞数量以及血清抗线粒体抗体 M2 抗原（AMA-M2）、AMA 和免疫球蛋白 M（IgM）水平呈正相关。血清 IL-21 水平与血清 AMA-M2、AMA、IgG 和 IgM 水平呈正相关，与 PBC 患者 CD27(+)CD19(+)B 细胞数量呈负相关。
新诊断的 PBC 患者可能表现出循环 ICOS(+)和 IL-21(+)TFH 和 CD38(+)浆细胞数量增加。
