Reserch Of Regulatory T Cells In PBC Murine Model

Objective.To investigate whether Treg cells and TGF-β1 are involved in the pathogenesis of PBC in PBC mice model.And to investigate the relationship of Tregs and TGF-β1,which is one of its most important regulatory cytokines.Methods.Select PBC mice and normal control mice at 8w,16w and 24w,each group has 6 mice.Collect serum to evaluate the quantity of TGF-β1 with ELISA.Collect liver specimens to evaluate the expression of FOXP3 with western blot and immunohistochemistry.Results The level of TGF-β1 in the serum of PBC mice is elevated than control mice at 16w and 24w(p=0.041).The expression of FOXP3 in liver couldn't be detected by western blot.According to the stages of PBC patients,PBC mice were all at stageⅠand stageⅡ.The number of lymphocytes in portal area in PBC mice was higher than controls(8w p=0.004,16w p=0,24w p=0),while the lymphocytes in 24w PBC mice were obviously lower than 16w PBC mice(p=0.006).FOXP3~+Treg cells in 16w and 24w PBC mice were obviously higher than control mice(both p=0.032).Conclusion.This study has shown TGF-β1 is involved in liver fibrosis.The expression of FOXP3 in mice liver is too low to be detected by western blot.The infiltration of lymphocytes in portal area is obvious in PBC mice,and at about 24w the inflammation is alleviated,which indicates the liver gets into the course of fibrosis.Treg cell is involved in the pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis.TGF-β1 may accelerate the production of Treg cells,and/or Treg cells excrete TGF-β1.We presumed Treg cells and TGF-β1 maybe concentrate at liver in PBC,which is the inflammation position,and the result of the concentration is that the levels of the two are not higher even lower than normal in serum,but higher in the target organ.