Expression Of CD4+EBI3+T Lymphocyte In Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Of Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective:Rheumatoid arthritis(RA)is well-known as one of the mostcommon autoimmune disease characterized by symmetrical and erosive arthrous lesions.People with RA usually suffer from destroyed cartilages or(and)bones and even joint deformation.The pathogenesis of RA is not yet explicit.Diversified immune cells and cytokines may play critical roles in the pathogenesis.Interleukin-35(IL-35)is a recently discovered cytokine consisting of two subunits-IL-12p35 and EBI3.Belonging to IL-12 family,IL-35 plays protective roles in kinds of diseases,such as cardiovaculardiseases or cancers.Some researches show that IL-35 can inhibit the activition of T cells and the expresssion of IL-17 and IFN-?,but how IL-35 regulate immunologicalfunction in patients with RA is still unclear.This study is conducted to detect the the expression of CD4~+EBI3~+T cells in peripheral blood in patients with RAas well asthe relationship between its expression,relevant autoantibodies and disease activity index.Methods:A total of 35 patients were enrolled in the Department of Rheumatology,the first Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University in 2017.,including 6 males and 29females with mean age of 52.03±16.13years.All patients conformed to the American College of Rheumatology(ACR)/European League Against Rheumatism(EULAR)2010 diagnostic criteria.We collected their laboratory parameters including ESR,CRP,ANA,RF and anti-ccp.And their clinical characteristics such as swollen and tender joints numbers and ILD were also collected.19 healthy people including 4 males and 15 females,with mean age of 51.53±13.01 years were selected as healthy controls.All involved cases were excluded from infection,cancer or autoimmune diseases.Wecollected peripheral blood of patientswith RA and Healthy controls and purified PBMCsfromby centrifugation and using Ficoll-Hypaque reagent.The expression of CD4~+EBI3~+T cells in peripheral blood in patients with RA and healthy volunteers were measured by flow cytometry(FCM).Results:1,The expression of CD4~+EBI3~+T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cellsin patients with RA was significantly lower than those in healthy controls(p<0.01).2,The expression of CD4~+EBI3~+T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cellsin patients with RA had negative correlation with ESR,DAS28(based on ESR)and CRP(p<0.05).But there was no correlation between its expression with relevant autoantibodies such as RF,CCP.or ANA.3,The level of CD4~+EBI3~+T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in RA patients with ILD was lower compared with it in RA patients without ILD(p<0.05).Conclusion:1,The expression of CD4~+EBI3~+T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with RA is decreased.2,The expression of CD4~+EBI3~+T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with RA is closely related to disease activity.3,CD4~+EBI3~+T cells may inhibits the pathogenesis of ILD in RA.