Expression Of Regulatory T Cells And Th17Cells In Myelodysplastic Syndromes And Its Significance

Objective:To investigate the expression of Foxp3+regulatory T cells (Tregs) and Th17cells in bone marrow(BM) and peripheral blood (PB) of myelodysplastic syndromes(MDS), so as to explore the cellular immune condition of MDS, and also to analyze the significance related to the clinical types and stages in MDS patients.Methods:Bone marrow and peripheral blood were obtained from32treatment—naive MDS patients and15age-matched controls which were not malignant or with autoimmune disease.By international prognositic score system (IPSS), MDS patients were divided into four groups:low, intermediate-1(int-1), intermediate-2(int-2) and high. Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to examine the expression of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+T lymphocytes and CD3+CD4+IL-17+T lymphocytes. Also the clinical data of patients were collected.Results:Compared with the normal control the percentage of Tregs in bone marrow of patients with treatment-nai¨ve MDS was significantly higher (P<0.05), however there was no difference in peripheral blood. And the percentage of Thl7cells in peripheral blood of patients with treatment-nai¨ve MDS was remarkably decreased (P<0.05), while there was no difference in bone marrow. And in bone marrow the percentage of Tregs of patients in int-2risk group was significantly higher than the patients in int-1risk group, and the expression of Treg cells of patients both in the int-2and high risk groups were much higer than the control group, and in peripheral blood the percentage of Tregs of patients in int-2and high risk group were remarkably higher than the patients in int-1risk group. However there was no statistical difference observed of Th17cells between any groups. And there was no remarkablely relationship between Treg and Th17cells in patients with MDS.Conclusion:Our data provide that Treg cells were increased while Th17cells reduced in MDS patients, and Treg cells were increased with the progression of MDS. There are changes of Treg and Th17cells in MDS, it is important to observe the changes of T cell subtypes which was helpful not only to promote our understanding of pathogenesis but also to evaluate the clinical stages and progression of MDS.