Haibai Sun; Jiaqing Liu; Ranran Feng; Chunyan Wang; Yuming Li; Xiao Wang
Abstract
Background: Follicular helper T lymphocyte (Tfh) promotes antibody production by B lymphocytes in various diseases, including Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB). Objective: To explore the potential role of Tfh cells and assess the expression level of PD-1, and IL-21 in PTB. Methods: 54 newly diagnosed ...
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Background: Follicular helper T lymphocyte (Tfh) promotes antibody production by B lymphocytes in various diseases, including Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB). Objective: To explore the potential role of Tfh cells and assess the expression level of PD-1, and IL-21 in PTB. Methods: 54 newly diagnosed smear-positive PTB, 27 people with latent tuberculosis (LTB) and 27 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. The PTB group was further divided based on the range of lung field involved (focus number>=3, PTB-X3; <3, PTB-X2). After 6-month therapy, sputum smear (positive, PTB-SP; negative, PTB-SN) or imaging examinations (lesion reduction significant, PTB-os; insignificant, PTB-s) were used to evaluate the conditions of PTB patients. Blood samples were collected from PTB group at month six. CD4+CXCR5+Tfh, and its subsets, CD4+CXCR5+PD-1+Tfh and CD4+CXCR5+ICOS+Tfh in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were detected. Serum IL-21 concentrations were measured. Results: The frequencies of CD4+CXCR5+Tfh, CD4+CXCR5+ICOS+Tfh and CD4+CXCR5+PD-1+Tfh were higher in PTB group than in HC. IL-21, IL-4 and IFNγ concentrations were significantly higher in PTB group than in HC. The proportion of CD4+CXCR5+Tfh in PTB-X2 was lower than in PTB-X3 group. CD4+CXCR5+PD-1+Tfh proportion in PTB-X2 was lower than that in the PTB-X3. After treatment, CD4+CXCR5+Tfh proportion was significantly lower in the PTB-SN group. CD4+CXCR5+Tfh was lower in the PTB-os group than in the PTB-s group. However, the CD4+CXCR5+PD-1+Tfh and cytokine concentrations of IL-21 were not different. Conclusions: CD4+CXCR5+Tfh level might predict the sputum results, and lesion decrease rate while CD4+CXCR5+PD-1+Tfh subset and IL-21 were not associated with sputum results or lesion decrease after treatment.
Tahereh Poordast; Fateme Sadat Najib; Rasoul Baharlou; Atena Bijani; Shaghayegh Moradi Alamdarloo; Alieh Poordast
Volume 14, Issue 2 , June 2017, , Pages 172-179
Abstract
Background: Preeclampsia is a common pregnancy-specific disorder associated with significant maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality worldwide. It has been proposed that the imbalance between two CD4+ T cell subtypes, regulatory T cells (Treg) and T-helper 17 cells (Th17), is involved in the pathophysiology ...
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Background: Preeclampsia is a common pregnancy-specific disorder associated with significant maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality worldwide. It has been proposed that the imbalance between two CD4+ T cell subtypes, regulatory T cells (Treg) and T-helper 17 cells (Th17), is involved in the pathophysiology of preeclampsia. Objectives: To determine the serum levels of IL-17, IL-21, IL-23 and TGF-β in patients with preeclampsia. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 30 preeclampsia patients, 30 normotensive pregnant women and 30 healthy individuals with no history of malignancies or autoimmune disorders based on simple sampling. The serum levels of IL-17, IL-21, IL-23 and TGF-β were measured by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: The serum levels of IL-17 and TGF-β were significantly higher in preeclampsia patients compared to normal pregnant group and healthy individuals (p>0.0001) but interestingly, the opposite was the case for IL-23 (p=0.005). However, there were no significant differences in IL-21 between preeclampsia and normal pregnant group. Conclusions: Our results conclude that contrary to IL-21, serum levels of IL-17 and TGF-β significantly increased in preeclampsia compared to normal pregnant women, supporting an imbalance of cytokine profile in preeclamtic patients.
