Institute of Pediatrics, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Department of Health Examination Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Front Immunol. 2022 Jun 10;13:901854. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.901854. eCollection 2022.
This study aims to explore the relationship between serum calcium concentration and peripheral lymphocyte status/Th1/Th2 cytokine levels in SLE patients, and the effect of glucocorticoids (GCs) on the calcium concentration and immune cell activation.
The peripheral blood TBNK lymphocyte subsets and Th1/Th2 cytokines in SLE patients with low or normal serum calcium concentration and healthy people were analyzed and compared retrospectively. Peripheral white blood cells (PWBCs) from SLE patients or healthy people were stimulated with PMA or GCs to test their extracellular calcium concentration and CD8 T cell activation.
The percentages of CD8 T in SLE patients increased, but the increase of the number of CD8 T cells only occurred in the SLE patients with low serum calcium concentration, and the number of CD45CD8 T cells also increased, suggesting that SLE patients with hypocalcemia tend to possess an enhanced cellular immunity. The results of Th1/Th2 cytokines in peripheral blood showed that the levels of serum IL-2, IL-10, IL-6 and IFN-γ in SLE patients with hypocalcemia were significantly increased. Although the serum levels of TNF-α in SLE patients were -similar to that in healthy people, it was significantly higher than that in SLE patients with normal serum calcium. When comparing the results of Th1/Th2 cytokines in two times of one patient, the serum levels of TNF-α in SLE patients increased while serum calcium levels decreased. The experiments showed that the decrease of serum calcium concentration in SLE patients was affected by the immune cell activation and the application of GCs, but GCs did not promote the immune cell activation.
Low serum calcium may make SLE patients in an enhanced cellular immune status and GCs aggravates the decrease of serum calcium levels but has no role on the immune cell activation. It suggests that hypocalcemia possibly promotes the disease activity of SLE patient, which should be paid attention to clinically.
本研究旨在探讨系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）患者血清钙浓度与外周血淋巴细胞状态/Th1/Th2 细胞因子水平的关系，以及糖皮质激素（GCs）对钙浓度和免疫细胞活化的影响。
回顾性分析低钙或正常血清钙浓度的 SLE 患者和健康对照者的外周血 TBNK 淋巴细胞亚群及 Th1/Th2 细胞因子，并进行比较。用 PMA 或 GCs 刺激 SLE 患者或健康人外周白细胞（PWBC），检测细胞外钙浓度和 CD8 T 细胞活化。
SLE 患者 CD8 T 细胞比例增加，但只有低钙血症的 SLE 患者 CD8 T 细胞数量增加，CD45 CD8 T 细胞数量也增加，提示低钙血症的 SLE 患者存在增强的细胞免疫。外周血 Th1/Th2 细胞因子结果显示，低钙血症的 SLE 患者血清 IL-2、IL-10、IL-6 和 IFN-γ 水平明显升高。虽然 SLE 患者血清 TNF-α水平与健康人相似，但明显高于正常血钙的 SLE 患者。比较同一患者两次的 Th1/Th2 细胞因子结果，SLE 患者血清 TNF-α水平升高，而血清钙水平下降。实验表明，SLE 患者血清钙浓度的降低受免疫细胞活化和 GCs 的影响，但 GCs 并不促进免疫细胞活化。
低钙血症可能使 SLE 患者处于增强的细胞免疫状态，GCs 加重血清钙浓度降低，但对免疫细胞活化无作用。提示低钙血症可能促进 SLE 患者病情活动，临床上应予以重视。
