Institute of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Jining Medical University, Jining, China.
Center for Laboratory Diagnosis, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University, Yantai, China.
Ital J Pediatr. 2023 Jul 28;49(1):93. doi: 10.1186/s13052-023-01498-5.
Multiple immunopathological responses to viruses are observed in infectious mononucleosis (IM), a manifestation of primary infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Protective effects of the negative immunoregulatory molecule interleukin-37 (IL-37) have been observed in various bacterial and viral infections. However, the function of IL-37 in IM remains unknown.
Flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to determine the expression of IL-37 in the peripheral blood of patients diagnosed with IM, and the variation of lymphocyte subsets. Furthermore, the associations between IL-37 expression and the percentage of lymphocyte subgroups were analyzed.
Patients with IM had severe immune dysfunction. The control group had a lower expression of IL-37 than the patients with IM. There were significant associations between IL-37 expression and both the proportion of CD3T cells and the ratio of CD3CD4 to CD3CD8T cells. Patients with higher levels of IL-37 expression had lower levels of the liver inflammation indicators, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST).
IL-37 may affect the immune pathogenesis of patients with IM infected with EBV, and may have immunotherapeutic benefit for EBV-associated illnesses.
传染性单核细胞增多症（IM）是 EBV 原发感染的一种表现，患者体内存在针对多种病毒的免疫病理反应。负性免疫调节分子白细胞介素-37（IL-37）在多种细菌和病毒感染中具有保护作用，但 IL-37 在 IM 中的作用尚不清楚。
采用流式细胞术和酶联免疫吸附试验（ELISA）检测诊断为 IM 的患者外周血中 IL-37 的表达及淋巴细胞亚群的变化，并分析 IL-37 表达与淋巴细胞亚群百分比之间的相关性。
IM 患者存在严重的免疫功能障碍，IL-37 的表达水平低于对照组。IL-37 表达与 CD3T 细胞比例和 CD3CD4/CD3CD8T 细胞比值均呈显著正相关。IL-37 表达水平较高的患者，其肝炎症指标丙氨酸氨基转移酶（ALT）和天门冬氨酸氨基转移酶（AST）水平较低。
IL-37 可能影响 EBV 感染所致 IM 患者的免疫发病机制，对 EBV 相关疾病可能具有免疫治疗作用。
