Wang Xinju, Chen Jianru, Wu Wei, Fan Jinrong, Huang Luling, Sun Weiwei, He Kaiqiao, Li Shuli, Li Chunying
Department of Dermatology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, 710032, China.
J Pharm Anal. 2024 Nov;14(11):100998. doi: 10.1016/j.jpha.2024.100998. Epub 2024 May 9.
Vitiligo is an immune memory skin disease. T-cell factor 1 (TCF1) is essential for maintaining the memory T-cell pool. There is an urgent need to investigate the characteristics of peripheral memory T-cell profile and TCF1 T-cell frequencies in patients with vitiligo. In this study, 31 patients with active vitiligo (AV), 22 with stable vitiligo (SV), and 30 healthy controls (HCs) were included. We measured circulating memory and TCF1 T-cell frequencies using flow cytometry. The Spearman's rank test was used to evaluate the correlation between cell frequencies and disease characteristics. Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) were constructed to investigate the discriminative power of the cell subpopulations. Circulating CD4 and CD8 terminally differentiated effector memory T-cell (T) frequencies were significantly higher in the AV group than in HCs ( < 0.05). TCF1 T-cell subpopulations were widespread increased in patients with vitiligo ( < 0.05). After adjusting for potential confounders, CD8 and CD4 central memory (T) cells, and CD8 T were correlated with disease activity ( < 0.05). The combined diagnostic value of the four (naïve, effector memory, T, and T) CD8TCF1 T-cell subsets was relatively high (area under the ROC curve (AUC) = 0.804, sensitivity = 71.70%, specificity = 83.34%), and the CD8 T-cell subsets combination performed well in discriminating disease activity (AUC = 0.849, sensitivity = 70.97%, specificity = 90.91%). We demonstrated an altered circulating memory T-cell profile and increased TCF1 T-cell percentage in patients with vitiligo. T-cell subpopulations had a strong value for vitiligo diagnosis and activity evaluation. This evidence presents a potential new pharmacological target for inhibiting autoimmunity that leads to vitiligo.
白癜风是一种免疫记忆性皮肤病。T细胞因子1（TCF1）对于维持记忆性T细胞库至关重要。迫切需要研究白癜风患者外周记忆性T细胞谱和TCF1 T细胞频率的特征。在本研究中，纳入了31例活动期白癜风（AV）患者、22例稳定期白癜风（SV）患者和30名健康对照者（HCs）。我们使用流式细胞术测量循环记忆性和TCF1 T细胞频率。采用Spearman秩检验评估细胞频率与疾病特征之间的相关性。构建受试者工作特征曲线（ROC）以研究细胞亚群的鉴别能力。AV组循环CD4和CD8终末分化效应记忆性T细胞（T）频率显著高于HCs（<0.05）。白癜风患者中TCF1 T细胞亚群普遍增加（<0.05）。在调整潜在混杂因素后，CD8和CD4中央记忆性（T）细胞以及CD8 T与疾病活动相关（<0.05）。四种（初始、效应记忆性、T和T）CD8TCF1 T细胞亚群的联合诊断价值相对较高（ROC曲线下面积（AUC）=0.804，敏感性=71.70%，特异性=83.34%），并且CD8 T细胞亚群组合在区分疾病活动方面表现良好（AUC=0.849，敏感性=70.97%，特异性=90.91%）。我们证明了白癜风患者循环记忆性T细胞谱改变以及TCF1 T细胞百分比增加。T细胞亚群对白癜风诊断和活动评估具有重要价值。这一证据提出了一个潜在的抑制导致白癜风的自身免疫的新药理学靶点。
