Shi Xu, Qu Zhihui, Zhang Li, Zhang Nan, Liu Yong, Li Man, Qiu Jinpeng, Jiang Yanfang
Genetic Diagnosis Centre, Central Laboratory, Ministry of Education, First Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Department of Nephrology, Ministry of Education, First Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2016 Apr;43(4):410-6. doi: 10.1111/1440-1681.12555.
To identify the frequencies of different subsets of peripheral blood follicular helper T (Tfh) cells in human idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN), 39 patients with new onset IMN and 18 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC) were enrolled for this study. The frequency of Tfh cells in venous blood were measured by flow cytometry, while concentration of serum IL-21 was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Correlation between the clinical features of IMN and Tfh cells was assessed by Spearman's rank correlation test. Overall, the frequencies of total, ICOS(+) , and PD-1(+) Tfh cells were increased in IMN patients, while the ratio of ICOS(+) /PD-1(+) Tfh cells positively correlated with IMN progression. However, the elevated serum IL-21 level in three subgroups of IMN patients, stratified based on 24-h urine protein levels, was not statistically significant compared to HC. Nonetheless, intracellular IL-21 in Tfh cells was generally increased in all IMN patients, and closely correlated with IMN development. Finally, the frequency of IL-21(+) Tfh cells and the ratio of ICOS(+) /PD-1(+) Tfh cells were positively correlated with the estimated 24-h urine protein of IMN patients. The data indicated that Tfh cells contribute to the pathogenicity of IMN. The ratio of ICOS(+) /PD-1(+) Tfh cells and the frequency of IL-21(+) Tfh cells may be indicators for evaluating the IMN development.
为了确定人类特发性膜性肾病（IMN）中外周血滤泡辅助性T（Tfh）细胞不同亚群的频率，本研究纳入了39例新发IMN患者和18例年龄及性别匹配的健康对照（HC）。通过流式细胞术检测静脉血中Tfh细胞的频率，同时采用酶联免疫吸附测定法检测血清IL-21的浓度。采用Spearman等级相关检验评估IMN临床特征与Tfh细胞之间的相关性。总体而言，IMN患者中总Tfh细胞、ICOS(+)Tfh细胞和PD-1(+)Tfh细胞的频率均升高，而ICOS(+)/PD-1(+)Tfh细胞的比例与IMN进展呈正相关。然而，根据24小时尿蛋白水平分层的IMN患者三个亚组中，血清IL-21水平升高与HC相比无统计学意义。尽管如此，所有IMN患者Tfh细胞内的IL-21普遍升高，且与IMN的发展密切相关。最后，IL-21(+)Tfh细胞的频率和ICOS(+)/PD-1(+)Tfh细胞的比例与IMN患者估计的24小时尿蛋白呈正相关。数据表明Tfh细胞促成了IMN的致病性。ICOS(+)/PD-1(+)Tfh细胞的比例和IL-21(+)Tfh细胞的频率可能是评估IMN发展的指标。
