The Peripheral Blood Levels Of Cytokines And Regulatory T Cells In Patients With Moyamoya Disease

Background:Moyamoya Disease is one of the most common causes of stroke in children and adults. However, the pathological mechanism of this disease is still unclear. Previous studies had reported that genetic factors, angiogenesis, immune inflammation, etc might play important roles in the development of MMD.Objectives:This study aims to estimate the levels of TH1 type cytokines, TH2 type cytokines, Chemokines,Adhesion Molecules,Angiogenesis-related factors sFasL,and the number of Regulatory T cells in peripheral blood of patients with Moyamoya disease. And compare the levels of cytokine and the frenquencies of Treg among different manifestions of moyamoya disease.Methods:The peripheral blood of 26 cases of MMD patients and 32 healthy controls were measured by CBA(cytometric bead array system) to determine the levels of IFN-γ、IL-2、TNF-α、IL-6、IL-10、IL-4、MCP-1、ICAM-1、VCAM-1、VEGF; ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) was used to measure the levels of TGF-β、sFasL; Using flow cytometry to determine the percentage of Treg/CD4+T lymphocytes in peripheral blood of MMD patients and healthy controls.Results:The levels of TH1 type cytokines IFN-y, IL-2, TNF-a in peripheral blood of MMD patients and normal controls had no significant difference. However, the levels of TH2 type cytokines IL-6, IL-10 were significantly higher than that of normal controls, while the level of IL-4 between MMD patients and normal controls had no significant difference. The level of Chemotactic factors MCP-1 had no significant difference between MMD and normal controls. However, the levels of adhesion molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1 were significantly increased in peripheral blood of MMD patients compared with normal controls. The levels of angiogenesis related factors TGF-β and VEGF in peripheral blood of MMD patients was significantly higher than normal controls. The level of sFasL was significantly decreased in peripheral blood of MMD patients compared with normal controls. The percentage of Treg/CD4+T lymphocytes in peripheral blood of MMD patients was significantly higher than normal controls. According to our results, the levels of all factors described above has no relationship with the onset form of MMD.Conclusion: The activation of Hurnoral immune, the increased expression of adhesion molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and angiogenesis related factors TGF-β VEGF, the decreased expression of sFasL and the increased ratio of Treg/CD4+T lymphocyte may play important roles in the pathogenesis of moyamoya disease.