Regulatory T Cells In Peripheral Blood Of Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Objective: The present study was to characterize and quantify regulatory T cell population in the peripheral blood of patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus(SLE).Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from 42 active SLE patients,35 stable SLE patients and 25 healthy controls. CD4+CD25+,CD4+CD25high T cells were analyzed by using flow cytometry measure, and mRNA expression of FOXP3 was determined by real-time PCR.Results: PBMC from patients with active SLE shows lower populations of CD4+CD25+and CD4+CD25high compared with the controls, and expressed reduced levels of FOXP3 mRNA; There is no significant differences in the percentage of CD4+CD25+and CD4+CD25high cells and the expression of the FOXP3 mRNA in the peripheral blood between the patients with stable SLE and the controls; The percent of CD4+CD25high in the PBMC from patients with active SLE shows positive correlations with the expression of FOXP3 mRNA, and negative correlations with SLEDAI, and no correlations with ESR,C3,C4, etc.Conclusion: These results demonstrate that deficien of CD4+CD25high T cell may play an important role in the pathogenesis of SLE.