糖皮质激素对SLE患者CD4^＋,CD8^＋T细胞Caspase-3及TRAIL受体基因表达的影响

Effects of glucocorticoid therapy on the expression of Caspase-3 and TRAIL receptors in CD4^＋ and CD8^＋ T cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

目的探讨糖皮质激素对系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）患者CD4^＋．CD8^＋T淋巴细胞Caspase-3及肿瘤坏死因子相关凋亡诱导配体（TRAIL）受体基因表达的影响。方法免疫磁珠法分离20例糖皮质激素治疗前后SLE患者及10例正常人对照的外周血CD4^＋,CD8^＋T淋巴细胞，半定量逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）分析其Caspase-3及TRAIL受体mRNA的表达。结果SLE患者治疗后CD4^＋T淋巴细胞TRAIL-R1表达显著降低（P〈0．05）；SLE患者治疗前后CD8^＋T细胞Caspase-3的表达显著高于正常人对照（P值分别〈0．01和〈0．05）；SLE患者治疗前CD8^＋T细胞TRAIL-R2的表达显著高于正常人对照（P〈0．05）。结论通过调节SLE患者T细胞TRAIL受体表达以抑制其凋亡可能是糖皮质激素治疗SLE的机制之一。

Objective To investigate the effects of glucocorticoid therapy on the gene expression of Caspase-3 and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand （TRAIL） receptors in CD4^＋ and CD8^＋ T cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus （ SLE ）. Methods Peripheral blood CD4^＋ and CD8^＋ T cells of 20 SLE patients before and after prednisone therapy and 10 healthy volunteers were isolated with a magnetic cell sorting system （ MACS ）. The expression of Caspase-3 and TRAIL receptors mRNA in the CD4^＋ and CD8^＋ T cells were detected by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction （ RT-PCR ）. Results The TRAIL-R1 expression in CD4^＋ T cells of SLE patients significantly declined after therapy （ P 〈 0.05 ）. The Caspase-3 expression of CD8^＋ T cells in SLE patients before and after therapy was significantly higher than that in healthy controls （ P〈 0.01, P〈 0.05, respectively）. The CD8^＋ T cells from SLE patients before therapy showed significantly increased expression of TRAIL-R2 compared with those from healthy volunteers （ P 〈 0.05 ）. Conclusion These findings suggest that inhibiting T cell apoptosis through regulation of the expression of TRAIL receptors may be one of the mechanisms of glucocortieoid for treatment of SLE.