Study Of The Express Of Co-Stimulatory Molecules On Peripheral Blood Dendritic Cells And The Balance Of Th1/Th2 In Children Withhenoch-Schonlein Purpura

Objective To study the express of co-stimulatory molecules on peripheral blood dendritic cells (DC) in children with Henoch-Sch0nlein Purpura (HSP), and to explore its influence on Th1/Th2 balance inorder to elucidate its significance in the pathogenesis of HSP and offer some insight into its therapy.Methods The levels of IFNγand IL-4 in plasma were determined by ELISA in 40 children with HSP and 18 normal children. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 28 HSP children and 18 normal children were induced with rhGM-CSF, rhlL-4 and rhTNF-αto make them transform into DC and culture in vitro for 8 days. The expression of the co-stimulatory molecules CD80 and CD86 on peripheral blood DC were examined by fluorescent activated cell sorter (FACS).Results①The levels of IFN-γand the ratio of IFN-γ/IL-4 in plasma of HSP children were significantly lower than those of the controls, respectively (19.65±8.23pg/ml vs 32.81±11.70pg/ml, t=4.26, P＜0.01; 0.63±0.23 vs 2.05±0.74, t'=7.98, P＜0.01); while the levels of IL-4 were remarkably higher than those of normal children (36.43±21.55pg/ml Vs l7.22±6.91pg/ml, t'=5.09, P＜0.01).②The results showed that no significant distinction in the expression of the CD83 on peripheral blood DC was found between HSP children and normal children[(69.29±16.20)% vs (69.26±18.77)%, P＞0.05]; HSP children had remarkably increased expression of the CD86 on peripheral blood DC[(86.11±11.75) % vs (70.37±15.30) %, t=3.94, P＜0.01]and remarkably decreased expression of the CD80[(72.03±18.14)% vs (82.64±9.46)%, t'=2.60, P＜0.05] compared, with the normal control subjects.③The CD86 expression rates in HSP children andthe controls both had positive correlation with the plasma levels of IL-4(r=0.53, P＜0.01; r=0.63, P＜0.01) and negative correlation with.the ratio of IFN-γ/IL-4(r=-0.55, P＜0.01; r=-0.80, P＞0.01), but had no correlation with the levels ofIFN-γ(r=0.32, P＞0.05; r=0.05, P＞0.05). The CD80 expression rates in HSP children and the controls were both positively correlated with the plasma levels of IFN-γ(r=0.43, P＜0.05; r=0.49, P＜0.05) and positively correlated with the ratio of IFN-γ/IL-4(r=0.49, P＜0.05; r=0.63, P＜0.01), but had no correlation with the levels of IL-4 (r=0.02, P＞0.05; r=-0.11, P＞0.05).Conclusions The study showes that there is a imbalance of Th1/Th2 in HSP children, and the function of Th2 relatively prevails over Th1. The increase of Th2 functions correlates closely with high expression of the CD86 on peripheral blood DC, and the decrease of Th1 functions is correlated with low expression of the CD80. The results indicate that the differential expression of the CD86 and CD80 on peripheral blood DC are closely correlated with the imbalance of Th1/Th2 in children with HSP.