Elevated level of circulating CD4HeliosFoxP3 cells in primary Sjogren's syndrome patients.

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to investigate the expression of regulatory T cells in primary Sjögren's Syndrome (pSS) and to evaluate the clinical role of CD4  Helios FoxP3 cells in pSS patients.

METHODS

CD4  FoxP3T cells in the peripheral blood of 39 pSS patients and 30 healthy controls were measured by flow cytometry and CD25 and Helios expression were also analyzed. The repression ability of CD4  CD25 cells was tested in vitro. Clinical information of pSS patients was retrospectively collected and their correlations with circulating Treg cells were analyzed. Cytokine levels in plasma were measured by ELISA and correlations with Helios FoxP3cells were also detected.

RESULTS

Circulating FoxP3and Helios FoxP3cells were elevated in pSS patients compared with controls. The suppression function of CD4  CD25 cells is not different between two groups. There are inverse correlations between Helios FoxP3percentage and ESR, IgG, IgM and ESSDAI. Anti-SSB patients possess higher level of Helios FoxP3cells than anti-SSBpatients. IL-6, IFNγ and IFNα levels were increased in pSS plasma and there were positive correlations between the levels of IFNγ/IFNα and percentage of Helios FoxP3cells.

CONCLUSION

Circulating Helios  FoxP3 cells were elevated in pSS patients and may contribute to suppressing autoimmunity in pSS patients.