| ObjectivesTo determine the expression of mTOR,Becline-1,LC3 and p62 in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells?PBMCs?of systemic lupus erythematosus?SLE?and assess their relationship with disease activity and immunologic features.Methods1.81 SLE patients admitted to the department of Rheumatology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from October of 2015 to May of 2016 were recruited in this study.86 healthy volunteers were recruited as healthy controls.Demographic characteristics,laboratory data and blood samples were collected.Blood samples were collected from all subjects.2.The expression of mTOR,Becline-1,LC3 and p62 was detected by RT-PCR in 81 SLE subjects and 86 age-and sex-matched healthy controls.Analyze the expression of mTOR,Becline-1,LC3,p62 in the two groups and access their correlations with disease activity and immunologic features.3.The statistical software SPSS 21.0 were used to perform all statistical analyses.The normality of continuous variables was established by means of one sample K-S test.The mean and standard deviation?SD?were used to summarize variables.Univariate comparisons between nominal variables were performed by the Chisquare test.Comparisons of continuous variables between two groups were done using the Independent sample t-test in the case of normal variables and the Mann-Whitney U-test in the case of non-normal variables.Comparison between qualitative data were done using t-test.For correlations between two continuous variables,Pearson,s or Spearman,s correlation was used for normal or non-normal variables,respectively.P<0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results1.The level of mTOR,Becline-1,LC3 and p62 mRNA in SLE group and control group: The mean levels of Becline-1,LC3 and p62 mRNA were significantly higher in SLE patients than the controls(9.96×10-4 vs 7.38×10-4 for Becline-1 mRNA with P<0.001;4.04×10-5 vs 2.62×10-5 for LC3 mRNA with P<0.001;9.51×10-4 vs 7.59×10-4 for p62 mRNA with P=0.008).However,the levels of mTOR mRNA in SLE patients were not significantly different from that in controls.2.Correlations between Becline-1 mRNA in PBMCs and SLEDAI as well as immunologic features: There were positive correlations between Becline-1 mRNA levels and SLEDAI?r=0.480;P<0.001?,IgG?r=0.511;P<0.001?,as well as anti-dsDNA?r=0.620;P<0.001?,negative correlation between Becline-1 mRNA levels and C3?r=-0.454;P<0.001?.No significant correlation was found between Becline-1 mRNA levels and C4?r=-0.180;P=0.108?.3.Correlations between LC3 mRNA in PBMCs and SLEDAI as well as immunologic features: LC3 mRNA levels showed positive correlations with SLEDAI?r=0.350;P=0.001?,IgG?r=0.594;P<0.001?and anti-dsDNA?r=0.439;P<0.001?,negative correlations with C3?r=-0.470;P<0.001?and C4?r=-0.251;P=0.024?.4.Correlations between p62 mRNA in PBMCs and SLEDAI as well as immunologic features: p62 mRNA levels correlated positively with SLEDAI?r=0.505;P<0.001?,IgG?r=0.542;P<0.001?and anti-dsDNA?r=0.631;P<0.001?,negatively with C3?r=-0.383;P<0.001?.The correlation between p62 mRNA levels and C4?r=-0.215;P=0.054?was not significant.ConclusionsOur results suggested that autophagosomes formation were activated and their degradation were blocked in the PBMCs of SLE.Moreover,the maintenance of autophagy balance may alleviate disease activity and immune disorders in SLE patients. |
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