Overwhelming Th17 cells compared to insufficient CD4+ regulatory T cells in rheumatoid arthritis

目的 探讨白细胞介素(IL)-17+CD4+炎症性T细胞(Th17细胞)和Foxp3+CD4+调节性T细胞在类风湿关节炎(RA)的相互关系及可能机制.方法 采用前瞻性随机开放研究.测定RA患者外周血IL-17+CD4+T细胞及Foxp3+CD4+T细胞的比例变化及其相关细胞因子转化生长因子(TGF)-β、IL-6、IL-23和IL-17水平.结果 RA患者外周血IL-17+CD4+T细胞明显升高(P<0.01),而Foxp3+CD4+T细胞明显降低(P<0.01).同时,血清中IL-6、IL-23和IL-17水平明显升高(均P<0.01),而TGF-β水平无明显变化(P>0.05).结论 RA患者Th17细胞数量增高,而调节性T细胞数量减少,体内相关细胞因子的变化是引起上述改变的重要原因.Objective To identify interleukin (IL)-17-producing T cells and Foxp3 positive CD4 positive T ceils from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and investigate their cytokine levels as well as their correlations. Methods Flow cytometry was used to analyze the subsets of T cells in peripheral blood from 39 RA patients and 40 healthy donors. IL-17, IL-6, IL-23 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta levels in sera of these subjects were tested by ELISA. Results IL-17+CD4+ T cells increased significantly and IL-17, IL-6 and IL-23 elevated markedly in peripheral blood of RA patients compared to healthy donors (P< 0.01 ). However,Foxp3+CD4+T cells decreased evidently (P<0.01) and TGF-beta did not increase in RA pati-ents when compared to healthy donors (P>0.05). Conclusion This study suggests that Th17 cells predomin-ance coupled with relatively insufficient CD4+ regulatory T cells in RA is mainly caused by alterations of rela-ted cytokines.国家自然科学基金杰出青年科学基金; 教育部科学技术研究重点项目中文核心期刊要目总览(PKU)中国科技核心期刊(ISTIC)中国科学引文数据库(CSCD)07439-4421