Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China.
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Basic and Translational Research of Inflammation-related Diseases, Bengbu, China.
Immun Inflamm Dis. 2024 Apr;12(4):e1244. doi: 10.1002/iid3.1244.
The purpose of this study was to examine the proportion of CD161 on CD56 natural killer (NK) cells in peripheral blood of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) and investigate its clinical relevance of pSS.
The proportion of CD56 NK cells and CD161 on CD56 NK cells was detected by flow cytometry in 31 pSS patients and 29 healthy controls (HCs). The correlations between the proportion of CD161CD56 NK cells and clinical features and disease activity of pSS were further analyzed. Meanwhile, we drew the receiver operating characteristic curve to evaluate the diagnostic value of CD161CD56 NK cells in pSS. In addition, we evaluated the differences in the effects of CD161 cells and CD161 cells in peripheral blood on the function of CD56 NK cells in 5 pSS patients.
The proportion of CD56 NK cells and CD161CD56 NK cells decreased markedly in pSS patients compared to HCs. The correlation analysis showed that the proportion of CD161CD56 NK cells negatively correlated with white blood cells, Immunoglobulin A (IgA), IgM, IgG, European League Against Rheumatism Sjogren's Syndrome Patient Reported Index and European League Against Rheumatism Sjogren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index, and positively correlated with complement C4. The proportion of CD161CD56 NK cells in pSS patients with decayed tooth, fatigue, arthralgia, skin involvement, primary biliary cirrhosis, interstitial lung disease, anti-SSA/Ro60 positive, anti-SSB positive and high IgG was lower than that in negative patients. Furthermore, compared with inactive patients, the proportion of CD161CD56 NK cells decreased obviously in active patients. The area under the curve was 0.7375 (p = .0016), the results indicated that CD161CD56 NK cells had certain diagnostic values for pSS. In addition, the proportion of CD86, HLA-DR, Ki67, FasL, TNF-α, and IFN-γ on CD161CD56 NK cells was lower than that on CD161CD56 NK cells in the peripheral blood of pSS patients.
This study suggested that the proportion of CD56 NK cells and CD161CD56 NK cells decreased significantly in pSS patients, and the proportion of CD161CD56 NK cells negatively associated with the clinical features and disease activity of pSS patients. CD161 expression inhibited the function of CD56 NK cells in peripheral blood of pSS patients. The CD161CD56 NK cells may present as a potential target for therapy and a biomarker of disease activity in pSS.
本研究旨在检测原发性干燥综合征（pSS）患者外周血中 CD161 表达于 CD56 自然杀伤（NK）细胞的比例，并探讨其与 pSS 临床特征的相关性。
采用流式细胞术检测 31 例 pSS 患者和 29 例健康对照者（HCs）外周血中 CD56 NK 细胞及 CD161 表达于 CD56 NK 细胞的比例。进一步分析 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞比例与 pSS 患者临床特征和疾病活动度的相关性。同时，绘制受试者工作特征曲线以评估 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞对 pSS 的诊断价值。此外，我们评估了 5 例 pSS 患者外周血中 CD161 细胞和 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞对 CD56 NK 细胞功能的影响差异。
与 HCs 相比，pSS 患者外周血中 CD56 NK 细胞和 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞的比例显著降低。相关性分析显示，CD161+CD56 NK 细胞比例与白细胞计数、免疫球蛋白 A（IgA）、IgM、IgG、欧洲抗风湿病联盟干燥综合征患者报告指数和欧洲抗风湿病联盟干燥综合征疾病活动指数呈负相关，与补体 C4 呈正相关。CD161+CD56 NK 细胞比例在有龋齿、疲劳、关节炎、皮肤受累、原发性胆汁性肝硬化、间质性肺病、抗 SSA/Ro60 阳性、抗 SSB 阳性和 IgG 升高的 pSS 患者中低于阴性患者。此外，与无活动患者相比，活动患者的 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞比例明显降低。曲线下面积为 0.7375（p = .0016），表明 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞对 pSS 具有一定的诊断价值。此外，pSS 患者外周血中 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞上 CD86、HLA-DR、Ki67、FasL、TNF-α和 IFN-γ的比例低于 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞。
本研究表明，pSS 患者外周血中 CD56 NK 细胞和 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞的比例明显降低，且 CD161+CD56 NK 细胞比例与 pSS 患者的临床特征和疾病活动度呈负相关。CD161 表达抑制了 pSS 患者外周血中 CD56 NK 细胞的功能。CD161+CD56 NK 细胞可能成为 pSS 治疗的潜在靶点和疾病活动的生物标志物。
