Prevalence of Fc-gammaR chain expression in CD4+ T cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the upregulation of transcript and protein levels of the T cell receptor (TCR)/CD3-Fc-gammaR chain in CD4+ T cells of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with different clinical disease activity scored on the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) scale.


METHODS
CD4+ cells were isolated by the positive biomagnetic separation technique. Quantitative analysis of Fc-gammaR cDNA was carried out by using the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) SYBR Green I system. Protein levels of Fc-gammaR in CD4+ T cells were determined by Western blotting analysis.


RESULTS
We observed significantly higher transcript and protein levels of the Fc-gammaR chain in CD4+ T cells of SLE patients (n = 45) than in healthy individuals (n = 26). The increase in Fc-gammaR expression was observed in 97.8% of SLE patients. Spearman statistical analysis suggests that the protein level of Fc-gammaR in CD4+ T cells may correlate with SLE activity scored by the SLEDAI scale (R = 0.556, p < 0.00006, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The high prevalence of the Fc-gammaR chain in CD4+ T cells of SLE patients may indicate an important role for this molecule in the pathogenesis of SLE.
Butkiewicz
L
L
Institute of Reumatology, Warsaw, Poland.
Duriagin
S
S
Laddach
R
R
Chwalinska-Sadowska
H
H
Jagodzinski
P P
PP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D017260:Receptor-CD3 Complex, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015854:Up-Regulation
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D017260:Receptor-CD3 Complex, Antigen, T-Cell