Expression Of APRIL And Its Receptors In Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells In Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosis

Objective: To investigate the expression and significance of a proliferation inducing ligand (APRIL) and its receptors, transmembrane activator and CAML interactor (TACI) and B cell maturation antigen (BCMA), in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMCs) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It may offer some insight into the mechanism of the SLE.Methods: Expression of mRNA of APRIL and its two receptors in PBMC from 36 patients with SLE and 17 controls were examined by half-quantitative RT-PCR, the correlation between the expression of mRNA of APRIL and its two receptros and SLEDAI were assessed.Results : The expression levels of APRILmRNA,TACImRNA and BCMAmRNA in patients with SLE were significantly higher than that in controls(P<0.01, P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively).The expression of APRILmRNA also had significent difference between active and inactive, and it showed significantly positive correlation with SLEDAI. The level of TACImRNA and BCMAmRNA expression in PBMC had no difference between active and inactive, and there were no correlation between TACImRNA, BCMAmRNA and SLEDAI.Conclusion: The expression of mRNA of APRIL and its two receptors in PBMC in patients with active SLE increased markedly, and the expression of APRILmRNA may be an indicator of disease activity. Which provide a valuable scientific basis for the clinical use of soluble receptor or antibody of APRIL.