Expression Of Costimulatory Molecules Cd80 And Cd86 On Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes In Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Background and ObjectiveSystemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) is a systemic disease characterized by generalized autoimmunity consisting of hyperactive T cells help and hyperactive B cell synthesis of immunoglobulins. It's etiopathogenesis remains vague. T cell activation requires at least two distinct signals. The first signal is interaction of the antigen-specific T cell receptor with its antigen presented on MHC. The secondsignal is received from interaction with costimulatory molecules. As a most important costimulatory molecules, B7 family, which includes B7-1(CD80), B7-2(CD86) and B7-3, plays a very important role in the activation of T/B cells, production of autoimmune antibodies and immune anergy. A number of recent studies report abnormal expression of CD80 and CD86 molecules from patients with SLE. By blocking the CD28-B7 pathway, great progress in treatment have been made in animal model. An implication of these studies is that altered expression of costimulatory molecules may contribute to a loss of self-tolerance and disease development. But the results of these studies were not consistent. To investigate the expression of costimulatory molecules CD80 and CD86 on peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLC) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and its significance, We perform the experiment.Patients and MethodsPatients:30 patients with established SLE(24 women and 6 men, age 37.6+15.2 years) and 25 normal individuals(20 women and 5 men, age33.5?5.8 years) werestudied. All patients met the ACR criteria for SLE. 28 patients were receivingprednisone in doses 10-60mg/day. Activity of disease were valued by SystemicLupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI).Methods: Flow cytometric assay was used.Statistics: Statistical analysis of the data was performed using software SPSS 10.0.Means SEM was used and differences was compared using the Mann-WhitneyU test, correlation was analyzed by Spearman's rank test.Results1, Expression of CD86 on PBLC in patients with SLE was significantly lower than that of normal controls ( P <0.01).2, No significant difference was observed between SLE patients and normal controls in CD80 expression.3,There was no difference of expression of CD80 and CD86 on PBLC betweenSLE patients with and without kidney disease. 4,The CD80 and CD86 levels of active SLE patients were similar with that ofinactive SLE patients and were not correlated with the SLEDAI scores, ANAliters, IgG and C3 serum levels.Conclusion1, Expression of CD86 on PBLC in SLE patients was decreased, which may be related to the pathogenesis of SLE.2, Measuring the level of CD80 and CD86 on PBLC can't determine the activity of disease and predict the development of kidney disease in patients with SLE.