The Expression And Meaning Of CD4~+CD25~+ Regulatory T Cells In Peripheral Blood Of Patients With Systemic Sclerosis

Objective To detect the proportion of FOXP3、CD 127, CTLA-4 and CD69 on CD4+CD25+Treg cells in peripheral blood, and detect the levels of TGF-β land IL-10 in serum of SSc patients, and analyze the correlation with Treg cells and disease activity.Methods Collected clinic data and blood specimens from patients with SSc in the first affiliated hospital of Guangxi Medical University from September to November in 2014, and using flow cytometry to count CD4+CD25+Foxp3+、 CD4+CD25+CD127-、CD4+CD25+CTLA-4+ and CD4+CD25+CD69+cell in the peripheral blood of SSc patients and healthy people.Using Enzyme linked immunosorbent test (ELISA) to detect levels of TGF-β1 and IL-10 in the serum, and analyse the correlation of Treg cells and the disease activity index and chest CT grading.Results1. The ratio of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells and CD4+CD25+CD127- cells in the peripheral blood of SSc patients are higher than control group (4.91±0.28 VS 3.30±0.68,28.49±2.98 VS 19.72±1.80, P<0.05). but show no correlation between them (r=0.332, P=0.349).2. The percentage of CD69+、CTLA-4+ on CD4+CD25+Treg cells in the peripheral blood of SSc patients show significantly lower than the control group (5.30±0.95 VS 6.62±0.42,3.45±0.53 VS 4.75±0.13, P<0.05).3. The level of TGF-β1 in the serum of the SSc patients show lower than the control group (16.07±15.44 VS 25.79±7.59 ng/ml, <0.05), however IL-10 show no obvious difference between two groups (2.16±1.58 VS 2.81 ±0.32 pg/ml,P=0.088).4. The ratio of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+cells in the SSc patients are positively correlated with chest CT scores (r=0.660, P=0.038) and disease activity index (r=0.674, P=0.033), however CD4+CD25+CD127-cells show no correlation (P>0.05).Conclusion1. Different phenotype CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ and CD4+CD25+CD127- cell proportion of Treg cells in peripheral blood of SSc patients are higher, and CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells associated with lung disease and disease activity.2. The CD69+ and CTLA-4+on CD4+CD25+Treg cells in the peripheral blood of SSc patients show lower expression ratio, prompt the immune suppression and functional defects.3. TGF-β1 secreted by Treg cells show reduced in peripheral blood of SSc patients, and IL-10 show no obvious change.