Yang Mengru, Liu Yan, Mo Biyao, Xue Youqiu, Ye Congxiu, Jiang Yutong, Bi Xuan, Liu Meng, Wu Yunting, Wang Julie, Olsen Nancy, Pan Yunfeng, Zheng Song Guo
Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, the Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Center for Clinical Immunology, the Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Cell Physiol Biochem. 2019;52(5):1178-1192. doi: 10.33594/000000080.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a progressive, chronic, even disabling systemic autoimmune disease. Imbalance between pathogenic immune cells and immunosuppressive cells is associated with the pathogenesis and development of RA and other autoimmune diseases. As Foxp3 is also expressed on activated CD4 cells in the presence of inflammation, the identification of Treg cells in patients with RA remains a challenge.
Comprehensive analyses were carried out by Flow cytometry. Expression of Helios, CD226, T cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains clinical samples and healthy controls.
We have systemically examined three potential markers, Helios, CD226 and TIGIT, that are possibly related to Treg identification, and found that Helios expression on CD4Foxp3cells was decreased and negatively correlated with the disease activity of RA patients, while CD226 and TIGIT both showed elevated expression levels in CD4Foxp3cells in RA patients and they were not associated with disease activity of RA patients.
Taken together, our findings indicate that CD4CD25CD127Foxp3Helios may represent the real Treg cell population in patients with RA.
背景/目的：类风湿关节炎（RA）是一种进行性、慢性甚至致残性的全身性自身免疫性疾病。致病性免疫细胞与免疫抑制细胞之间的失衡与RA及其他自身免疫性疾病的发病机制和发展相关。由于在炎症存在时Foxp3也在活化的CD4细胞上表达，因此在RA患者中鉴定调节性T细胞（Treg细胞）仍然是一项挑战。
通过流式细胞术进行综合分析。检测Helios、CD226、具有Ig和免疫受体酪氨酸抑制基序结构域的T细胞免疫受体在临床样本和健康对照中的表达。
我们系统地检测了三种可能与Treg细胞鉴定相关的潜在标志物，即Helios、CD226和TIGIT，发现RA患者CD4Foxp3细胞上Helios的表达降低，且与RA患者的疾病活动度呈负相关，而CD226和TIGIT在RA患者的CD4Foxp3细胞中均表现出表达水平升高，且它们与RA患者的疾病活动度无关。
综上所述，我们的研究结果表明，CD4CD25CD127Foxp3Helios可能代表RA患者中真正的Treg细胞群体。
