Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China.
The Chenggong Hospital Affiliated to Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China.
J Immunol Res. 2018 Jun 7;2018:8212641. doi: 10.1155/2018/8212641. eCollection 2018.
Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a rheumatic disease characterized by the destruction of salivary and lacrimal glands, and its pathogenesis mechanism remains unclear. Gq is the -subunit of the heterotrimeric Gq protein. Researches demonstrated that Gq was involved in the pathogenesis regulation of several rheumatic diseases. This study explored the role of Gq in pSS. Gq mRNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 39 patients and 26 healthy controls (HCs) were investigated using real-time PCR. IL-17A serum concentrations in 22 pSS patients and 23 HCs were tested by ELISA, and the clinical significance of Gq was analyzed. The association of Gq with interleukin-17A (IL-17A) expression was also analyzed in patients with pSS. We showed that Gq expression in PBMCs from patients with pSS was significantly lower than that in PBMCs from HCs. Gq expression level was closely associated with pSS disease activity. Furthermore, a negative association was also found in IL-17A and Gq expression level. These data suggest that Gq is involved in pSS pathogenesis regulation, possibly due to its regulation of Th17. These results provide new insights into the pSS pathogenesis mechanism involving abnormal Th17 regulation.
原发性干燥综合征（pSS）是一种以唾液腺和泪腺破坏为特征的风湿性疾病，其发病机制尚不清楚。Gq 是异三聚体 Gq 蛋白的 β 亚基。研究表明，Gq 参与了几种风湿性疾病的发病机制调节。本研究探讨了 Gq 在 pSS 中的作用。采用实时 PCR 检测 39 例 pSS 患者和 26 例健康对照者（HCs）外周血单个核细胞（PBMCs）中 Gq mRNA 水平。采用 ELISA 检测 22 例 pSS 患者和 23 例 HCs 血清中 IL-17A 浓度，并分析 Gq 的临床意义。还分析了 pSS 患者 Gq 与白细胞介素-17A（IL-17A）表达的关系。结果显示，pSS 患者 PBMCs 中 Gq 的表达明显低于 HCs。Gq 表达水平与 pSS 疾病活动度密切相关。此外，还发现 IL-17A 与 Gq 表达水平呈负相关。这些数据表明 Gq 参与了 pSS 的发病机制调节，可能是通过调节 Th17 实现的。这些结果为涉及异常 Th17 调节的 pSS 发病机制提供了新的见解。
