RORγT在人根尖肉芽肿和根尖囊肿中的表达及意义

The expression and significance of RORγT in periapical granulomas and radicular cysts

目的:通过免疫组织化学方法对Th17细胞的特异性标记维A酸相关孤核受体γT(RORγT)进行检测,以阐明Th17细胞在人慢性根尖周病损中的表达及意义。方法:收集安徽医科大学口腔医学院口腔颌面外科经根尖手术切除的根尖囊肿18例,根尖肉芽肿22例作为实验组。收集埋伏阻生智牙拔除时需凿骨患者的健康牙槽骨5例作为正常对照组。对样本中RORγT蛋白表达水平进行免疫组织化学检测,同时检测白细胞介素(interleukin,IL)17的蛋白表达水平。根据病变类型(根尖肉芽肿、根尖囊肿、正常对照组)和炎症浸润程度(轻度、中度、重度、正常对照组),分析RORγT和IL-17的蛋白表达水平。采用SPSS 17.0软件包对数据进行统计学分析。结果:RORγT表达于所有根尖周炎病损组织中,并显著高于正常对照组(P<0.05),正常对照组中未检测到RORγT的表达;RORγT在轻度、中度和重度炎症细胞浸润中的表达水平均显著高于正常对照组(P<0.05);RORγT和IL-17的蛋白表达水平在根尖肉芽肿(r=0.935,P<0.05)和根尖囊肿(r=0.803,P<0.05)中呈正相关。结论:RORγT在根尖肉芽肿和根尖囊肿中的表达量显著高于正常对照组,表明Th17细胞可能存在于根尖周病变中。

PURPOSE： To identify retinoic acid-related orphan nuclear receptor-γT（RORγT）, the specific markers of T helper 17（Th17） cells by immunohistochemical analysis to confirm the presence of Th17 cells in periapical lesions.METHODS： Eighteen radicular cysts（RCs） and 22 periapical granulomas（PGs） were collected in the Department of Oral Pathology after periapical surgery as the experimental samples. Five alveolar bone samples were obtained from a group of impacted third molars recommended for extraction as the control samples. The protein expression of RORγT was measured by immunohistochemical analysis for all samples. In addition, the protein expression of IL-17 was measured at the same time. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 17.0 software package to evaluate the differences of expression of RORγT and IL-17 according to type of lesion（PG vs. RC vs. control group） and intensity of the inflammatory infiltration（mild vs. moderate vs. severe vs. control group）. RESULTS： RORγT＋ cells were detected in all periapical lesions tissues,and the expression of RORγT was significantly higher in periapical lesions than in normal tissues which had no expression of RORγT（P0.05）. Significant differences in the expression of RORγT were observed among healthy tissues, lesions with mild inflammation, moderate inflammation and severe inflammation（P0.05）, respectively. Positive correlations between RORγT and IL-17 protein levels were observed in PGs（r =0.935,P 0.05） and RCs（r =0.803,P 0.05）, respectively.CONCLUSIONS： The results demonstrates a significant increase in the expression of RORγT in patients suffering from periapical lesions in comparison with normal control subjects, indicating that Th17 cells are more likely to exist in periapical lesions.