title: Disturbed Th1, Th2, Th17 and T(reg) balance in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease accompanied by disturbed T-cell homeostasis. Dysbalance of T-helper-cell (Th) subsets (Th1/Th2/Th17) and regulatory T-cells (T(regs)) is suggested to contribute to the pathogenesis of SLE. Recent reports suggest functional deviation of T(regs) in terms of producing IL-17A, a process that may be aberrant in SLE. Therefore, we analyzed these T-cell subsets in SLE to test the hypothesis that aberrant T-cell subset skewing is present in SLE-patients. We investigated simultaneously the intracellular cytokines IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-17A in CD4(+)T-cells as well as in T(regs). Skewing of T-cell subsets towards Th17 cells was observed in SLE-patients. Although the proportion of T(regs) was similar between SLE-patients and healthy controls, the ability of T(regs) to express IFN-γ and IL17A was impaired in SLE-patients. Even in quiescent SLE-patients T-cell homeostasis is aberrant in terms of skewing towards IL-17 producing T-cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Sebastian.Dolff@uk-essen.de
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dolff
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bijl
authors.forename: Minke G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Huitema
authors.forename: Pieter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Limburg
authors.forename: Cees G M
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Kallenberg
authors.forename: Wayel H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Abdulahad
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000097:blood; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000097:blood; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood; D007424:Intracellular Fluid / Q000737:chemistry; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D058504:Th17 Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: C418974:FOXP3 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C508717:IL17A protein, human; D020381:Interleukin-17; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma