Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences , Arak, Iran.
Molecular and Medicine Research Center, Arak University of Medical Sciences , Arak, Iran.
Neurol Res. 2020 Sep;42(9):783-788. doi: 10.1080/01616412.2020.1774211. Epub 2020 Jun 4.
Recently, members of the semaphorin family have received major attention in various medical fields, especially autoimmunity. In this study, we selected semaphorin-3A (Sema3A), semaphorin-7A (Sema7A), and their receptors to determine the possible relationship between these molecules and multiple sclerosis (MS).
We measured the gene expression of Sema3A, Sema7A, neuropilin-1 (NP-1), plexin-C1, and β1 integrin in the blood samples of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients, treated with high-dose interferon-β1a (IFN-β1a), low-dose IFN-β1a, IFN-β1b, and glatiramer acetate (GA) via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay, and then, compared the results of treatment-naive patients with the healthy controls.
The gene expression of Sema3A (P = 0.02), NP-1 (P < 0.001), and plexin-C1 (P < 0.01) significantly decreased in the treatment-naive group, compared to the healthy controls. Sema3A significantly increased in all treated patients, compared to the treatment-naive patients (P < 0.001). However, expression of NP-1 (P < 0.001), plexin-C1 (P < 0.001), and β1 integrin (P < 0.05) only increased in patients receiving high-dose IFN-β1a, IFN-β1b, and GA. Expression of Sema7A increased in only two groups of patients treated with IFN-β1b (P < 0.001) and GA (P = 0.018), without any significant decrease in the treatment-naive group, compared to the healthy controls (P > 0.05).
Our findings confirm that the presence of Sema3A, Sema7A, and their receptors can play critical roles in the treatment of MS patients. Therefore, they can be potential target molecules for MS treatment in the future.
最近，信号蛋白家族的成员在多个医学领域引起了广泛关注，尤其是在自身免疫领域。在本研究中，我们选择信号蛋白 3A（Sema3A）、信号蛋白 7A（Sema7A）及其受体，以确定这些分子与多发性硬化症（MS）之间的可能关系。
我们通过定量实时聚合酶链反应（qRT-PCR）检测复发缓解型多发性硬化症（RRMS）患者在接受高剂量干扰素-β1a（IFN-β1a）、低剂量 IFN-β1a、IFN-β1b 和聚甘酯（GA）治疗前后血液样本中 Sema3A、Sema7A、神经纤毛蛋白-1（NP-1）、神经丛蛋白 C1 和 β1 整合素的基因表达情况，并将治疗前患者的结果与健康对照组进行比较。
与健康对照组相比，治疗前组 Sema3A（P=0.02）、NP-1（P<0.001）和神经丛蛋白 C1（P<0.01）的基因表达显著降低。与治疗前患者相比，所有接受治疗的患者的 Sema3A 均显著增加（P<0.001）。然而，只有接受高剂量 IFN-β1a、IFN-β1b 和 GA 治疗的患者 NP-1（P<0.001）、神经丛蛋白 C1（P<0.001）和 β1 整合素（P<0.05）的表达增加。仅在接受 IFN-β1b（P<0.001）和 GA（P=0.018）治疗的两组患者中 Sema7A 的表达增加，而治疗前组与健康对照组相比（P>0.05），Sema7A 的表达没有显著降低。
我们的研究结果证实，Sema3A、Sema7A 及其受体的存在在 MS 患者的治疗中起着关键作用。因此，它们可能成为未来 MS 治疗的潜在靶点分子。
