[Study on the dendritic cell subsets in peripheral blood and its relationship with the expressions of T-bet and GATA-3 in lymphocytes in severe aplastic anemia].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between the dendritic cell (DC) subsets and transcriptive factors, T-bet, GATA-3, and immune imbalance in acquired severe aplastic anemia (SAA).


METHODS
The DC1 (HLA-DR+Lin-CD11c+) and DC2 (HLA-DR+Lin-CD123+) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) were measured with flow cytometry (FCM), the expressions of T-bet mRNA and GATA-3 mRNA in PBMNC with semiquantitative RT-PCR and the plasma level of IFN gamma and IL-4 with ELISA in 29 SAA patients and 16 healthy controls.


RESULTS
The percentages of DC1 in PBMNC were (0.44 +/- 0.24)% and (0.73 +/- 0.30)% in untreated and recovered SAA patients respectively, both were higher than that in controls (0.29 +/- 0.10)% (P < 0.05). The percentage of DC2 in the untreated cases was lower than that of recovered ones or controls [(0.18 +/- 0.14)% vs (0.28 +/- 0.20)% and (0.29 +/- 0.13)%] (P < 0.05). DC1/DC2 ratios were 3.45 +/- 2.71 and 2.90 +/- 0.95 in untreated and recovered groups respectively, both were higher than that in controls (1.15 +/- 0.56) (P < 0.05). No statistic difference in DC1/DC2 ratio was found between untreated and recovered patients (P < 0.05). The relative mRNA expression levels of transcriptive factor T-bet were 0.37 +/- 0.07, 0.20 +/- 0.07 and 0.17 +/- 0.05 in the above 3 groups, respectively, untreated group being higher than that of recovered group or healthy controls (P < 0.05). There was no statistic difference of GATA-3 expression among the 3 groups (P > 0.05). T-bet/GATA-3 ratio was 0.72 +/- 0.13 in untreated group, being higher than that of recovered group (0.33 +/- 0.08) or controls (0.35 +/- 0.11). The plasma level of IFN gamma in the untreated group was (50.9 +/- 1.1) ng/L, which was higher than that of recovered group [(49.7 +/- 0.9) ng/L] or controls [(49.7 +/- 0.7) ng/L]. There was significant positive correlations between T-bet and DC1/DC2 ratio (r = 0.445, P < 0.01), as well as between T-bet and IFN gamma (r = 0.402, P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Either DC1/DC2 or T-bet/GATA-3 ratio might become an index to estimate immune imbalance. High-expressed T-bet was related to the progress of SAA. In patients with SAA, DC1/DC2 ratio returns to normal range later than that of routine blood test does, indicating that immunosuppressive therapy should not be withdrawn too earlier.
Wang
Jun
J
Department of Hematology & Oncology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China.
Shao
Zong-hong
ZH
Fu
Rong
R
Ruan
Er-bao
EB
Qu
Wen
W
Liang
Yong
Y
Liu
Hong
H
Wu
Yu-hong
YH
Song
Jia
J
Wang
Hua-quan
HQ
Xing
Li-min
LM
Guan
Jing
J
Li
Li-juan
LJ
Liu
Hui
H
Dong
Shu-wen
SW
You
Li
L
Zou
Peng
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000741:Anemia, Aplastic / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D050990:GATA3 Transcription Factor / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D055815:Young Adult; D000098815:T-bet Transcription Factor
D050990:GATA3 Transcription Factor; C494749:GATA3 protein, human; C508598:IL4 protein, human; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D000098815:T-bet Transcription Factor; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma