Xue Guohui, Zhong Yao, Hua Lin, Zhong Meijun, Liu Xiaofeng, Chen Xueli, Gao Dian, Zhou Nanjin
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Jiujiang No. 1 People's Hospital, Jiujiang.
Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second People's Hospital of Kunming, Kunming.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2019 Mar;98(10):e14757. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000014757.
Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) are at increased risk of developing colitis-associated colon cancer. Accumulating evidence suggests that follicular T helper (TFH) cells play a crucial role in the pathogenic process of autoimmune diseases. However, little is known about the role of TFH cells in the development of UC. To investigate the role of TFH cells in the development of UC, the number of TFH cells, the level of interleukin-21 (IL-21), the numbers of B cell subsets, and clinical parameters were detected in peripheral blood from 31 UC patients and 29 healthy controls. TFH cells and the level of IL-21 were significantly higher in UC patients than in the healthy controls. A positive correlation between TFH and IL-21 cells was found in UC patients. Moreover, aberrant frequencies of different subsets of B cells were observed in UC patients, and a positive correlation was found between CD38CD19 B cells and TFH cells and between CD86CD19 B cells and TFH cells. A high number of TFH cells were positively associated with Mayo score, serum C-reaction protein (CRP) and serum IgG in UC patients. Our data indicate that TFH cells and IL-21 are involved in the pathogenesis of UC.
溃疡性结肠炎（UC）患者患结肠炎相关结肠癌的风险增加。越来越多的证据表明，滤泡辅助性T（TFH）细胞在自身免疫性疾病的致病过程中起关键作用。然而，关于TFH细胞在UC发病中的作用知之甚少。为了研究TFH细胞在UC发病中的作用，检测了31例UC患者和29例健康对照者外周血中TFH细胞数量、白细胞介素-21（IL-21）水平、B细胞亚群数量及临床参数。UC患者的TFH细胞和IL-21水平显著高于健康对照者。在UC患者中发现TFH细胞与IL-21细胞呈正相关。此外，在UC患者中观察到不同B细胞亚群的频率异常，且CD38⁺CD19⁺ B细胞与TFH细胞之间以及CD86⁺CD19⁺ B细胞与TFH细胞之间呈正相关。UC患者中大量的TFH细胞与Mayo评分、血清C反应蛋白（CRP）和血清IgG呈正相关。我们的数据表明，TFH细胞和IL-21参与了UC的发病机制。
