Li Xiaomei, Yu Daliang, Yu Ning, Wang Ximei, Li Xiangpei, Harris David C H, Wang Yiping
Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Affiliated Anhui Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui.
Department of Nephrology, Renmin Hospital of Three Gorges University, Yichang, China.
Int J Rheum Dis. 2017 Apr;20(4):474-480. doi: 10.1111/1756-185X.13041. Epub 2017 Feb 20.
Our previous study confirmed the defect of B7-H4 expression in peripheral blood and salivary glands of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of the deficit expression of B7-H4 on CD4 T cells.
CD4 T cells were purified by magnetic-activated cell sorting MACS. The proliferation and cytokine production of CD4 T cells co-cultured with purified salivary gland epithelial cells (SGECs) from pSS or non-SS sicca syndrome were detected.
By co-culturing the gland cells with CD4 T cells, we found the proliferation of CD4 T cells was significantly suppressed. The effect was weaker when SGECs from pSS patients were used compared to that from non-pSS sicca syndrome controls. Simultaneously, the productions of cytokines interleukin (IL)-5, IL-13, IL-17A, IL-6 in supernatant were reduced and also SGECs from pSS patients decreased them less than that from non-SS controls.
The decrease of B7-H4 expression in salivary glands of SS patients contributes to the defect of negatively regulating the inflammation caused by CD4 T cells, thereby providing new insights into the role of B7-H4 in the inflammatory process of salivary glands in SS.
我们之前的研究证实了原发性干燥综合征（pSS）患者外周血和唾液腺中B7-H4表达存在缺陷。本研究旨在分析B7-H4表达缺陷对CD4 T细胞的影响。
通过磁珠分选法（MACS）纯化CD4 T细胞。检测与来自pSS或非干燥综合征（非SS）的纯化唾液腺上皮细胞（SGECs）共培养的CD4 T细胞的增殖和细胞因子产生情况。
通过将腺细胞与CD4 T细胞共培养，我们发现CD4 T细胞的增殖受到显著抑制。与非pSS干燥综合征对照组相比，使用pSS患者的SGECs时这种抑制作用较弱。同时，上清液中细胞因子白细胞介素（IL）-5、IL-13、IL-17A、IL-6的产生减少，并且pSS患者的SGECs使其减少的程度低于非SS对照组。
SS患者唾液腺中B7-H4表达的降低导致对CD4 T细胞引起的炎症进行负调节的缺陷，从而为B7-H4在SS唾液腺炎症过程中的作用提供了新的见解。
