Expression And Clinical Significance Of Regulatory T Cells And Th17Cells And The MRNA Of Related Transcription Factors In Mutiple Myeloma

Objective:To preliminarily investigate the role of Treg cells and Th17cells in pathogenesis of multiple myeloma (MM) through the analysis of regulatory T cells and Th17cells distribution, and their corresponding specific transcription factor Foxp3, ROR-γ t mRNA levels in the peripheral blood of patients with MM.Methods:We collected the peripheral blood of43patients with MM (which were divided into three groups by ISS:9cases in stage I,13cases in stage II,21cases in stage III) and20healthy controls. Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to detect the ratio of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+regulatory T cells/CD4+T cells and CD3+CD4+IL-17+T cells/CD4+T cells. The Treg cells and Th17cells level differences were compared among stages, as well as before or after chemotherapy, then the correlation between Treg and Th17cells was analyzed. Meanwhile, the Real-time PCR was applied to detect the expression of Foxp3mRNA and ROR-γ t mRNA, then the similar statistical analysis was carried out.Results:(1)Compared with the healthy control, the ratio of Treg cells and the expression level of Foxp3mRNA in peripheral blood of patients with MM was significantly higher, and they increased more obviously in patients of stage Ⅲ than in stage Ⅰ and Ⅱ. The ratio of Treg cells in MM patients after chemotherapy was significantly lower than those who hadn’t gone through chemotherapy, while an decreased trend was observed in Foxp3mRNA level without statistically differences.(2)The ratio of Th17cells seemed higher in patients with MM than in controls but without statistically differences, while the expression level of ROR-γt mRNA was significantly higher, moreover, both of the proportion of Th17cells and the level of ROR-γt mRNA showed no statistically differences among the stages. For the ratio of Th17cells, there was no significant difference between MM patients after chemotherapy and those who were before chemotherapy, however, the level of ROR-yt mRNA is significantly decreased in patients after chemotherapy.(3)In addition, we didn’t find a remarkable relationship either between the Treg cells and Th17cells or between the Foxp3and ROR-γt.Conclusion:Treg cells proportion and Foxp3mRNA level in peripheral blood of MM patients increased significantly, and were affected by the disease staging, moreover, they decreased in patients after chemotherapy, illustrating that Treg cells may participate in the immune escape and proliferation of tumor cells in MM patients; An increased trend is observed in Th17cells proportion, and ROR-γt mRNA expression level increased significantly, meanwhile, the ROR-γt mRNA level decreased in patients after chemotherapy, suggesting that Th17cells play a certain role in the development and progression in MM; We haven’t found any relationship between Treg and Th17cells, as well as between Foxp3mRNA and ROR-γ t mRNA expression level, suggesting there might not be direct single antagonism or promoting relations between them.